A petition calling for the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay to drop changes to how regularly women will have cervical cancer checks has secured 150,000 signatures in under 24 hours.
It comes shortly after reports that women aged 25-50 will have to wait five rather than three years for cervical cancer checks, providing they do not have HPV cells identified in a screening.
According to Public Health for Cervical Screening Wales, this is because the testing regime is becoming more “effective”, making it “safe to extend the time between screenings”.
However, this has not stopped a petition on change.org by Rachel Paul to the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales hitting over 150,000 signatures in under 24 hours.
The petition states:
“On average 3197 cases of cervical cancer are discovered each year with 854 deaths between 2016-2018, with only 51% surviving this type of cancer for more than 10 years.
“99.8% of cervical cancer cases are preventable (according to cancer research UK). increasing the length of time between cervical screening is putting lives at risk!”
In England, the first invitation is sent to eligible people at the age of 24.5 years. People aged 25-49 receive invitations every three years. People aged 50-64 receive invitations every five years.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:
“While I am pleased to see HPV checks become more reliable and effective, I find it difficult to see why this change is necessary.
“Hopefully, the Labour Government is not using this as a chance for penny pinching, because more effective tests will only be more effective if conducted more regularly.
“Once every three years is hardly a burden on women who want peace-of-mind and should not be one for NHS.
“The way this petition has taken off and the strength of feeling out there should surely force the Labour Government to at least re-consider the changes they propose to make regarding these life-saving checks.”
