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Cervical cancer: how nurses can help reverse the fall in screening uptake
Nurses need to allay people’s fears about screening – and in doing so could save lives

Nurses need to allay people’s fears about screening – and in doing so could save lives
- One in four women invited to undergo screening failed to respond in 2019-20
- Reasons include embarrassment, anxiety about pain and fear of the results
- COVID-19 pandemic is also thought likely to have increased barriers to screening
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, cervical cancer screening figures were failing to reach national targets, yet experts say nurses can play a key role in reversing this trend.