January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month with Cervical Cancer Prevention Week taking place between 17-23 January 2022.
Many of us will already know that cancer is a disease in which cells in the body grow out of control. When cancer starts in the cervix, which is found at the lower part or neck of the womb, it is called cervical cancer.
According to Cancer Research UK, every day 9 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and more than half of the cervical cancer cases in the UK each year are diagnosed in women under the age of 45. However, it is important to note that all women are at risk for cervical cancer.
What are the Causes and Risks?
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is a major cause of the main types of cervical cancer. HPV is a common virus that is passed from one person to another during sex but for most, the virus causes no harm and goes away on its own.
There are however other risk factors such as smoking tobacco, taking the contraceptive pill or your family history. Anything that increases your risk of getting a disease is called a risk factor.
Prevention
Screening tests and the HPV vaccine can help prevent cervical cancer. It is therefore essential to attend for a routine cervical screening test after an invitation on the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. The NHS in England offers routine cervical screening to females aged 25–64 years. This test, known as a smear test, can stop cervical cancer from ever developing.
There are many reasons why women delay attending for a test such as being too busy to make or attend an appointment, finding it difficult to get an appointment, feeling too embarrassed or worrying about not seeing a female doctor. There are various resources available to women to talk about their concerns and to ask for help.
Other reasons include not knowing what the symptoms of cervical cancer are, not thinking the symptom was serious at the time or not wanting to waste the GP’s time. It is therefore vital to recognise the seriousness of symptoms.
What are the Symptoms?
The most common symptoms of cervical cancer are pain or discomfort during sex or bleeding after sex, bleeding between periods or other bleeding that is unusual for you, changes to vaginal discharge or pain in your lower back or pelvis. However, these symptoms do not always mean you have cervical cancer and can be common in non-cancerous conditions such genital infections or taking hormonal contraceptives. It is therefore crucial to see your GP to discuss any symptoms you may be concerned about as well as attending for regular smear tests.
Delay In Diagnosis
When cervical cancer is found early, it is highly treatable and associated with long survival and good quality of life.
A health care provider’s failure to recognise symptoms or refer for further investigations can result in a delay in diagnosis of cervical cancer and it is therefore important that UK guidelines for managing women with abnormal bleeding, pain, discomfort or discharge should be followed.
Taylor Emmet can help women who believe they have suffered an injury due to a delay in diagnosis of cervical cancer by investigating the treatment they received and whether anything could have been done differently to get their diagnosis earlier with a better outcome. If you consider that your care has been affected by a delay in diagnosis, our team of experts is happy to discuss your treatment with you and guide you through the process of a clinical negligence case.
