Cervical Screening Important Information

Cervical screening is one of the best ways to protect yourself from cervical cancer

Cervical screening checks the health of your cervix and helps find any abnormal changes before they can turn into cancer.

It's not a test for cancer, it's a test to help prevent cancer. Cervical screening checks a sample of cells from your cervix for certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV). These types of HPV can cause abnormal changes to the cells in your cervix and are called "high risk" types  of HPV. If high risk types of HPV are found during screening, the sample of cells is also checked for abnormal cell changes. If abnormal cells are found, they can be treated so they do not get a chance to turn into cervical cancer.

Early detection and treatment can prevent 75 per cent of cancers developing but like other screening tests, it is not perfect. It may not always detect early cell changes that could lead to cancer.