News BMJ 2025; 389 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1325 (Published 25 June 2025) Cite this as: BMJ 2025;389:r1325
Women in England who have not turned up or accepted invitations for routine cervical cancer screening will be offered home testing kits from next year in a drive to improve screening rates and reduce deaths.
As part of its 10 year health plan due to be published this summer, the Department of Health and Social Care said that it would offer women who were overdue for screening a self-sampling kit that can be used at home and then posted to a lab using pre-paid mail.
Anyone whose sample indicates signs of high risk human papillomavirus (HPV), the cause of most cervical cancers, will then be referred to a specialist for follow-up testing.
The government wants to improve the current 68.8% participation rate in cervical cancer screening to meet …
Subscribe and get access to all BMJ articles, and much more.
* For online subscription
You can download a PDF version for your personal record.
