Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to extend routine cervical screening to women aged 65 and over.

The National Health Service Cervical Screening Programme currently stops sending invitations for cervical screening after a woman reaches 65, unless they need ongoing surveillance or follow up. This is generally required if a woman has had an abnormal result in any of her three most recent tests or is recommended for early repeats owing to a previous abnormality.

The natural history of cervical cancer means that it is unlikely that women of 65 and over who have been regularly screened and discharged from the programme will go on to develop the disease. We also know that screening becomes more uncomfortable after menopause.

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recently reviewed a proposal about the care of women aged 64 exiting the programme. The outcome of this proposal will be published in the UK NSC’s minutes which will be available in six weeks at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/uk-national-screening-committee-uk-nsc