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U.K. Govt urged to act over cervical cancer

By

PETER O’HARA

of NZPA London The British Government is under pressure to reduce delays and backlogs in testing for cervical cancer as lobbyists say the incidence of the disease is growing and the medical administration is in chaos. Cervical smear tests should be made every five years, the Departmment of Health and Social Security recommends. A D.H.S.S. spokesman told NZPA that campaigners were trying to get the recommendation changed to every three years and “Ministers are considering that urgently at the moment.” The Women’s National Cancer Control Campaign says three-yearly intervals would be more suitable for most women and an “epidemic” of one sexually transmitted condition, the human papilloma virus (genital warts), poses questions about the need for even more frequent checks in some groups. The first New Zealand

“economic study” of cervical cancer screening concluded in October that annual smears were too expensive to justify the number of lives saved and a three-year programme was consistent with accepted valuations placed on life. Opponents of the study have referred to an “epidemic” of cervical cancer and said annual testing is needed. British feeling, which has been stirred up by horror stories of women who have been let down by the health system and died after suffering cancer of the cervix, tends to support the study’s finding.

Albert Singer, a consultant gynaecologist at a London clinic, says the disease is “potentially just as lethal as A.1.D.5., which is now also threatening the female population.” But, Mr Singer told “Women’s Own” magazine, “maybe it’s unrealistick to suggest having a smear done annually... certainly three years s the absolute maximum.” In Britain 2000 women

die of the disease every year and the extent of the breakdown of the health system became apparent with the death of an Oxford mother, Phillipa Kingston, aged 33. When she died in March last year she had not been told the results of a positive smear test. The case caused a rush on cytology laboratories and one Manchester doctor said there were “boxes of smears lined up all down the corridors and under benches.” Alice Burns, director of the W.N.C.C.C. said, “Labs are still having to cope - with great numbers of slides and women in some areas of the country still have a long time to wait before hearing the results. “One woman wrote to us from East Anglia recently saying she had to wait three or four months after already having had one positive test. That sort of practice is barbaric.” Many women are demanding that they should be tested more often than the five years recommended by the Government. In some areas they are lucky, because different district health authorities have taken varying stances. “Mrs Smith in one London borough might have her test every three years, while Mrs Jones in a nearby borough might have hers every five years, because the two authorities have adopted two different policies,” a spokeswoman for the W.N.C.C.C. said. A lack of funds for the laboratories leads to delays once a test is made.

Guidelines adopted by the Government since Phillipa Kingston’s death say there should be a maximum time gap of only four weeks between a women being tested and getting the results. But, the ‘Mirror” newspaper reported recently, “in many areas this is farcical. Worst hit are Nottingham, where there is a 5J4 month delay, Scunthorpe (3)4 months), Northumberland and Newscastle (13 weeks), Bromley, Kent (four months).”

Jan Gauntlett, spokeswoman for the Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences, said “The number of laboratory staff is

totally inadequate. We move from one state of chaos to another. The delays cause a great deal of anxiety to women who are waiting for the results of tests.” The "Mirror” cited the case of Debra Salt, aged 29, who waited three months for the result of a cervical smear test and then was told it was positive.

She was faced with another two-month delay before she could get an appointment with a specialist for more tests. “The screening system — which can be a matter of life or death — is in chaos because of lack of money,” said the “Mirror,” Fleet Street’s most vociferous opponent of the Thatcher Government.

“Women’s Own” reported that Rose Owenson was only 30 when she died “from cancer which started in the cervix then spread to the bloodstream and lungs. “A cervical smear test . she had done in 1979 was positive and she had another test done when she become pregnant three years later.” The magazine said Mrs Owenson, the mother of four young children, “wasn’t told the results of those vital tests until it was too late. She found out by complete accident, when severe, abnormal menstrual bleeding forced her to see a gynaecologist, who diagnosed cancer.” Her husband, Michael, aged 33 said, “She had radiotherapy for a while and she was all right. But that gave her a perforated bowel and she had to have a colostomy. She went right downhill from then.”

“Women’s Own” says the D.H.S.S., the Government department responsible for delivering National Health Service care to us, the users, know the facts, yet many doctors feel that there is inadequate interest in preventing the disease.

“It is estimated that the death rate from the disease, especially in younger women, will climb steeply between now and the end of the century,” the magazine said.

The view highlights one difference with present

Government policy, which is essentially concerned more with the risk to older women. "Our experience is that it is older women (over 35) who are at greater risk,” a D.H.S.S. spokesman said. The department’s policy is to recommend that any woman who is sexually active should seek a •smear test, and then further tests every five years. This particularly applies to women who have had three pregnancies or are over 35. It is also encouraging health authorities to computerise a “call and recall” to keep in contact .with women and tell them it is time to be tested. • But the women’s campaign is worried about the implication of a group of viruses in the disease of cancer of the cervix. It says younger women are at risk and "some very young girls are moving from pre-cancer to actual cancer in a matter of months.” The human papilloma virus “seems to have undergone some sort of change in its behaviour. No longer does it take up to 20 years for a cancer to develop from the initial contact with a wart virus.” Dennis McCance, a senior lecturer in microbiology at London’s Guys Hospital, said, “We do know that there has been a general increase in sexually transmitted virus infections. There is less syphilis now and gonorrhoea rates have levelled out but many more virus disorders have been identified.” In the neck of the womb (the cervix) there is a small central channel that connects it with the uterus and vagina, “Women’s Own” noted. “Where the central channel meets the cervix there is a band of cells called the transformation zone. The cells here are very responsive to changes in the woman’s hormones, and are very vulnerable when the hormones are at their most active — during the babymaking years.” Dr McCance said, “We do know that the H.P.V. attacks the very vulnerable transformation zone.”

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19861219.2.106

Bibliographic details

Press, 19 December 1986, Page 14

Word Count
1,217

U.K. Govt urged to act over cervical cancer Press, 19 December 1986, Page 14

U.K. Govt urged to act over cervical cancer Press, 19 December 1986, Page 14