Patient & Practice Event: Understanding and Improving Cervical Screening

Last month, patients and staff from GP practices in Gosforth and Jesmond came together to talk about an important women’s health topic: cervical screening.

Cervical cancer is highly preventable – 99.8% of cases can be stopped. Yet, every year, more than 3,200 women in the UK are diagnosed, and over 850 die from it.

This event was part of a project run by the Gosforth Jesmond Health (GJH), working with our GP practices to provide extra services to patients in Gosforth and Jesmond.

What’s the Project About?

The project looks at people’s experiences with cervical screening. By hearing concerns, questions, and ideas, we hope to improve attendance rates and save lives.

Kathryn McHarg, GJH social prescriber and project lead, started the session. She shared an important NHS goal: to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. Increasing screening rates is key to achieving this.

Kathryn highlighted some important facts:

• Women aged 30–34 are most at risk of cervical cancer.
• In Gosforth and Jesmond, women aged 30–40 are the least likely to attend screenings.

This is a clear example of a health inequality we want to change.

What Did We Talk About?

Patients, doctors, nurses, and other staff worked in small groups to talk about three key topics:

1. Barriers to Screening

What stops women from attending? Common issues included:

• Feeling embarrassed.
• Anxiety about the procedure or test results.
• Concerns about how it fits around pregnancy, motherhood, or sex lives.

2. Appointments and booking

What was the booking process like? Patients shared:

• How they knew they were due for a test.
• Whether appointment times were convenient.
• What was the experience with staff like

They also gave ideas on how to improve the process.

3. Information

What do people know about cervical cancer? We asked:

• Did the invitation include helpful information?
• Were there still unanswered questions?
• Where did they go for more details?

Suggestions for better communication were also shared. We also showed some of the work we’re already doing to raise awareness about cervical screening.

Next Steps

Kathryn and the team will review the ideas and suggestions from the event and the recent patient survey.

They’ll create recommendations to share with GP practices. The goal is to make it easier for more people to attend life-saving cervical screening appointments.

What do you think?

The event and survey gave us great insights—thank you to everyone who joined! Your feedback is vital to improving cervical screening for everyone.

We’d love to hear more. Your thoughts are especially valuable if you haven’t attended a screening before. There’s no judgement—just a chance to help us understand your perspective and make a difference.

Your feedback could save lives.