National campaign launched as 1 in 3 not taking up cervical screening offer
A campaign to increase uptake of cervical screening will run until mid-March across England, including TV advertising, video on demand and social media. The Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Saves Lives campaign will also include activity targeted to ethnic minority (black and South Asian) and LGBTQ+ communities, as data show these groups can experience specific barriers to accessing screening.
Latest figures show that nearly a third (30%) of eligible individuals aged between 25 and 64 were not screened (NHS Digital, 2021). Around 2700 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in England each year and approximately 690 women die from the disease.
A Department of Health and Social Care-commissioned survey showed a number of concerns which prevent attendance at cervical screening. The survey showed that embarrassment was the most common reason for never having attended or missing an appointment (stated by 42% of respondents), followed by those who ‘kept putting it off’ (34%) and ‘being worried it would be painful’ (28%). Fifteen per cent of lesbian or bisexual women over 25 had never had a smear test, compared to 7% of women over 25 in general.
The majority of respondents (81%) said the nurse or doctor put them at ease during their cervical screening appointment, and over half (58%) were surprised how quick the test was and, reassuringly, 89% would encourage others who are worried to attend screening.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and Medical Director for Primary Care at NHS England, said: ‘There is no doubt about it – cervical screening saves lives. By screening for risk signs at an early stage, it means that any abnormal cells can be treated quickly before they potentially develop into cancer.’
In England, NHS cervical screening is offered to women and people with a cervix between the ages of 24.5 and 49 every 3 years. For those between the ages of 50 and 64, screening is offered every 5 years.
Lung conditions kill more people in the UK than anywhere in Western Europe
The UK has the worst death rate for lung conditions such as asthma and COPD than anywhere else in western Europe, according to new analysis from Asthma + Lung UK (Eurostat, 2021). The analysis reveals that over a seven-year period, half a million people have died from lung conditions such as asthma attacks, COPD exacerbations and pneumonia, in the UK.
The charity says that lung conditions need to be treated as seriously as other major illnesses including heart disease and cancer. More than 12 million people in the UK will be diagnosed with a lung condition during their lifetime and lung disease is the third biggest killer in the UK. Lack of research is hindering the creation of more effective diagnostic tests and new treatments.
The charity highlights the effect of the pandemic, stating that many thousands of people have watched their health deteriorate while they wait for respiratory care, and diagnosis rates have plummeted.
Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of Asthma + Lung UK formerly known as Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, said: ‘The state of lung health in the UK is shameful, with more than 100 000 people dying every year from lung conditions, the numbers of hospital admissions increasing, and air pollution causing people to develop lung conditions or making existing ones worse. It is a national scandal that people are more likely to die from a lung condition in the UK than almost anywhere in Europe.’
NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme good value for public money
The National Audit Office (NAO) report into the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme in England found the ‘vaccine programme has operated at unprecedented pace, scale and complexity, and in conditions of profound uncertainty, to achieve the pressing objectives’. They also found ‘it has provided value for money to date’.
In total, £5.6bn was spent on the COVID-19 vaccine programme by the end of October 2021 (including procurement costs for the UK and deployment costs for England). The programme had 4% ‘wastage’ up to the end of October 2021 (approximately 4.7 million doses), against a planning assumption of 15-20% – a remarkable achievement with one case study showing vaccine centre staff often working late to use up spare doses rather than throw any away.
The report notes how GP and community pharmacist teams have administered many more doses than originally planned – 71% up to the end of October 2021, compared with a planned 56%. The report also found that national and local partners showed an ability to adapt quickly, for example the rapid shift to deliver more vaccinations through GPs and pharmacies.
Commenting on the findings, GP and deputy lead for the NHS Vaccination Programme, Dr Nikki Kanani, said: ‘The National Audit Office finding that the NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Programme delivered value for money confirms what we already knew about the biggest and most successful vaccine drive in health service history – it was delivered efficiently, effectively, and at speed, vaccinating more than four in five adults with a booster and preventing more than 100 000 hospitalisations since mid-December, according to the latest data.’
Dr Gary Howsam, Vice Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘GPs and their teams, working with colleagues across the health service, have pulled out all the stops to ensure as many people as possible are protected from Covid-19, and it's good to see this being recognised by the National Audit Office. The vaccine rollout was the biggest and most complex vaccination programme in UK history. It also ran alongside two expanded flu vaccination programmes. Its success has in a large part been down to the experience, hard work and dedication of GP teams, delivering vaccinations at a local level, with the majority of vaccinations delivered in primary care.’
The report highlighted that uptake has exceeded expectations and has been higher than for previous flu vaccination programmes, but it concluded: ‘Most importantly, it [the vaccination programme] needs to maintain the high levels of vaccine uptake it has achieved among the general population and increase levels for groups where uptake still lags behind.’