YOUNG women are being urged to get themselves screened for cervical cancer as figures show they are delaying having the ‘dreaded’ test.

This week is Cervical Cancer Screening Awareness Week and NHS England is seizing the moment to highlight a reduction in the number of women 25-29 to the lowest take-up of any age group.

The number of women dying from cervical cancer has halved over the past 27 years thanks to the NHS screening programme and improvement in treatment.

Despite this success, more than 3,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, which represents around one per cent of all cancer diagnoses.

It is the second most common cancer in women, after breast cancer in England, and the most common in women under 40.

In Somerset, 57 per cent of cervical cancers diagnosed in the last three years were in women under 40.

The majority of women diagnosed with cervical cancer have delayed getting screened, impacting on treatment.

Lynne Benton, screening and immunisation co-ordinator in Public Health England, said: “We have noticed a fall in attendance of younger women over the past few years, and this is now showing a rise in the incidence of cervical cancer in women under 40.”

Mrs Benton added: “Many young women don’t understand the importance of attending for their first screen when invited around their 25th birthday.

“The screening test, often called a ‘smear test’, is a relatively simple procedure performed by the practice nurse at your GP surgery which takes about 10 minutes.”