Each year, millions of people attend cervical screening appointments to help prevent cervical cancer, the most common cancer in women under 35 years old. However, many don’t come forward and miss out on the potentially life-saving appointments.

The NHS offers free cervical screening to women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64. As the NHS website explains: “It's your choice if you want to go for cervical screening. But cervical screening is one of the best ways to protect you from cervical cancer.”

What’s more, over 99% of cervical cancer is preventable, according to the Lady Garden Foundation. This is a national charity raising awareness and funding for the five gynaecological cancers.

While it’s normal to feel nervous about attending a medical appointment, understanding what’s happening might help you feel more comfortable about the process. It should take no longer than ten minutes.

Below, John Butler, Consultant Gynaecological Oncology Surgeon at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Medical Director of The Lady Garden Foundation, has shared a step-by-step list explaining what happens during a cervical screening appointment.

Jenny Halpern Prince MBE, Charity Chair and Co-founder of the Lady Garden Foundation, said: “At the Lady Garden Foundation, we are committed to increasing the uptake of cervical screenings by breaking down barriers that prevent people from accessing these potentially life-saving appointments. 99.8% of cervical cancer is preventable and so we urge all women and people with a cervix to attend their cervical screening appointment.”

The Lady Garden Foundation is a national gynaecological health charity. Founded in 2014, the charity funded research into the treatment of ovarian, cervical, womb (uterus), vulval, and vaginal cancers at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
  
A spokesperson added: "Today, and every day, 60 women in the UK will receive the life-changing news of a gynaecological cancer diagnosis, and 21 people will die from one of these cancers. Many of the symptoms are ’silent’, meaning they are often diagnosed too late." More information is available from the NHS and the Lady Garden Foundation.