Commenting on the news that over 40,000 women in England have not received information about cervical screening, Professor Jo Martin, President of the Royal College of Pathologists, said:
‘Women will undoubtedly be very anxious about this news. The most important thing now is that women attend their cervical screening appointments as treatment of any early abnormalities can prevent most cervical cancers from developing.
‘We also need to make sure that staff in the cytopathology laboratories who process and analyse samples are given support to deal with the expected increase in cervical screening tests after these women are invited to attend their GP practice.
‘It’s vital that there is a detailed investigation to find out exactly why this failure happened and how it can be prevented from happening again.’
Author(s)
