OVER 16,000 York women had their smear test screening cancelled during the first year of the pandemic.

Figures from NHS England show that almost a third of all York women eligible for a smear test during 2020-21 didn’t attend an appointment.

This means that an estimated 16,597 women out of 54,711 missed an appointment as their invites to cervical screenings were ‘temporarily suspended’ or appointments were delayed.

This is a decrease in appointments of 71 per cent from 2019-20 compared to the national decrease of two per cent.

A City of York Council spokesperson said: "This is a national issue and not just one for York. It is not unreasonable to assume that the delay in inviting women for screening was a result of the pandemic and repeated lockdowns which will have prevented women being invited for appointments.

"The council has in the past ran health promotion campaigns in partnership with the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) encouraging women to come forward for screening - this is something we can consider doing again once the pandemic is over and as a public health team we have the capacity to do this."

Vale of York CCG were contacted by The Press for comment, but informed The Press that this was an inquiry for the council.

Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK’s leading cervical cancer charity, have warned that the national decrease in cervical screenings taking place, along with the unprecedented strain on the health service, could lead to more women being diagnosed with preventable cancers.

The charity also found that many women were nervous of catching Covid at their GP practice which led them to not book their appointment.

Rachel Maskell MP said: "According to NHS data, around 2,600 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in England, and around 690 women die from the disease each year - if everyone attended screening more regularly, 83 per cent of cases could be prevented.

"The worrying steep drop in smear tests risk more women discovering that they have cervical cancer late."

Smear tests, otherwise known as cervical screenings, look for abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix which could lead to cancer, by using a soft brush to collect a cell sample which is then tested.

Women aged 25 to 49 are invited for a test every three years, due to those aged 25-29 being at the highest risk of cervical cancers, while those aged 50 to 64 are invited every five years.

The national #SmearforSmear campaign was launched by Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust in 2015 due to one in three women not attending their appointment, fearing the test procedure itself, battling body image issues, or having a past experience of sexual violence.