Myth Busting: Cervical Screening and HPV

Using Vaccines and screening, the NHS has pledged to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.

As a group of GP practices, we want to do everything possible to help to make this happen.

Why?

Because of the 3,200 new cases of cervical cancer in the UK every year – and over 800 deaths – 99.8% could be prevented.

What we’re doing

Preventing cervical cancer is a priority for us. We hope by talking openly and often about it, we can save lives. Last week’s news post about Cervical Cancer Awareness Month is the latest example.

We also want to look more at the reasons people don’t get screened.

Last summer, our network team started a project to understand more about barriers to attendance and see what we can do to increase the number of women attending screening tests.

First was an online cervical screening hub bringing together information, stats, video FAQs and more. It’s a one-stop shop where you can learn more, find answers to common questions, and hear from doctors, nurses, and patients.

Tap or click the image below to take a look.

Next, views were gathered from patients and practice teams through surveys.

In November, we followed that up with a patient event. Patients and staff from all GP practices discussed barriers to screening, improving booking and appointment options, and the all-important issue of information.

While the network team are working through recommendations, we felt it was important to share some of the misunderstandings there are around cervical screening, HPV vaccine and in a simple, concise way.

Myth busting

Discussions with patients in November often returned to inaccurate information or false claims people had seen online, especially about HPV and the vaccine.

Things like not being able to get HPV if you’re not sexually active, don’t have sex with men, or, if you do get it, it means you’ve been ‘sleeping around’.

Or that a positive test means you have cancer or having the vaccine means you cannot get cancer.

Myths like these could, if not corrected, put someone off getting screened and put their health at risk.

There are similar myths or misconceptions about cervical screening, too.

That’s why we’ve launched our new Cervical Screen and HPV Myth Busters page.

Click or tap the buttons below to separate the fact from the fiction.

If you learn something new, why not send the link to a friend or share it online? You never know if it could save a life.