Hi,
I wonder if anyone has any experience of being perimenopausal and getting their smear test. In my area (Greater Manchester) there are no drop in smear test clinics; I have to book in advance to see the nurse at my GP’s surgery, and they will only do smear tests between 8.30am and 1pm when a nurse is available, Upshot is that it’s very difficult for me (a teacher) to make an appointment. Now my periods are becoming little erratic (not yet irregular) because of my age (I’ve managed to get an appointment today but they couldn’t do it because of blood - I’m not due my period for another 9 days).
I’m feeling very frustrated as working women, like me, in their 40s are being discriminated against - I just want to be able to drop in to a clinic (like I used to be able to!) to get my smear done. I’ve been having smear tests for almost 30 years, and for the first time, I’m considering giving up!
Does anybody have any suggestions about how/ where I can get a test done which doesn’t require me taking time off work (I can’t!).
I’ve contacted my MP and am going to take this further when he returns from recess.
Thanks for reading.
I hear you. Smears at my GP are done by nurses, who only work certain days and between certain times. Hence availability for these appointments is limited compared to regular GP appointments which extend to evenings (in theory; lucky if you can see a GP these days!). This is compounded by the fact that my GP no longer offers smears on request as a result of worrying symptoms. Routine smears and recalls/investigations as a result of these, are centrally organised via the Cervical Screening Administration department and any query abnormalities outside of routine/recall are dealt with by a GP referral to a local gynae outpatient department. I am fortunate that my workplace (NHS) is understanding and allows flexibility for health appointments like these, that are not possible to make for outside standard working hours.
Have you tried discussing your concern with your surgery? After all, you can’t be the only teacher needing a smear, who faces the same time constraints. Perhaps your GP would be willing to perform a smear for you at an evening surgery under the circumstances? Or could refer you to somebody who may run a specialist smear clinic that has later appointments?
Hi Eckhho and welcome
I can totally empathise with you about this, albeit it’s water under the bridge for me - I’m in my mid 60s and 5 years post stage 2 cervical cancer treatment. I stopped going for smear tests when I was 50y (2007) for a number of reasons but difficulties accessing appointments with a full time demanding job/commuting didn’t help, even then. Whatever you do don’t give up; it’s possibly the regret of my life that I missed out on the opportunity to prevent my cancer - see my back story.
It’s very commendable that you are considering taking it up with your MP; it’s always worth a go but I’m not sure you will get very far as an individual. Jo’s has made considerable efforts to address this issue and I supported Jo’s in writing to my MP about it in recent years.
Jo’s has also made efforts to encourage employers to give staff time off to attend cervical screening: ‘Time to test’ - see link below. I think this is a great idea but I understand in jobs like yours the practicality of that can be a major issue, but I think t’s something worth working towards. Seems to me it’s possibly a sex/gender equality issue.
https://www.jostrust.org.uk/get-involved/campaign/time-test
I can’t think of anything to add to Spacedog’s suggestions to get a smear but an alternative would be HPV self sampling; kits which can be bought on line. If you are HPV negative you won’t need a smear test for another 3 years. Disclaimer I haven’t used these kits; I’m sharing information - not advising. There is a blog about HPV self sampling on this website:
https://www.jostrust.org.uk/about-us/news-and-blog/blog/what-hpv-self-sampling
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