Cervical cancer: Dr Hilary's advice
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England currently offers free tests to all women aged between 25 and 64 who are registered with their GP, although today Parliament will debate lowering the age limit for cervical cancer screening to the age of 16.
Dr Hilary Jones gives Good Morning Britain viewers some more advice and information.
Dr Hilary Jones says: Cervical cancer is a devastating condition which kills three women every day in the UK. Cervical cancer screening (smear testing) has been very successful in diagnosing the condition early enough in thousands of cases to have saved many thousands of lives, yet over 3.5 million women are currently overdue their next smear test - and many women have still never had one.
Any woman over 25 who has ever been sexually active should avail herself of this free test on the NHS as part of the National Cervical Cancer Screening Campaign. Forget embarrassment or inconvenience, the test takes just a few minutes and only have to be done every three years between the age of 25 and 49, and then every five years after the age of 50.
Women under the age of 25 can still have a smear test at the discretion of their doctor if they have symptoms or anxieties, but screening all women under 25 is not recommended by experts, including Cancer Research UK, because cancer at this age is exceedingly rare and it is thought that at this age too many false positive results would create a significant amount of unnecessary worry.
Find out more about the parliamentary debate on cervical screening
Watch Sophie Jones' family discuss her death from cervical cancer
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