Patients and GPs are becoming increasingly frustrated at the zero tolerance approach by laboratories, which saw 712 women across England have tests ignored last year because of Government rules which say those under 25 do not need to be tested.
This was up from 244 rejections the previous year.
Ignored: Hundreds of young women given smear
tests on the advice of GPs are having their test samples rejected by
bureaucratic clinics because they are under 25 (picture posed by model)
Around 3,000 women in the UK each year contract cervical cancer and it accounts for more than 900 deaths.
Dr Clare Gerada, of the Royal College of GPs, told BBC Newsnight: ‘I think if a GP has made a clinical decision to give a cervical smear then that smear should be processed.
Calls: GPs and patients groups are increasingly
calling for a return to pre-2003 rules when the minimum age for a test
was 20 (picture posed by model)
The Government insist that if a woman under 25 needs a smear test they must be referred to a gynaecologist.
But one consultant told Newsnight, which compiled the data using the Freedom of Information Act, that decision was crazy.
Professor John Shepherd said: ‘I think that’s not sensible, It’s crazy. GPs are well trained doctors.
‘In most practices there will be partners who specialise in gynaecology. To send patients straight to a gynaecologist is actually a waste of man power, time and money, and not sensible.’
The age for cervical screening was raised to 25 because experts believed it caused more harm than good in younger women.
Under 25s are more likely to present falsely positive results, meaning unnecessary treatment.
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