GSK, Middlesbrough Council and NHS England among employers supporting new cervical cancer campaign

GSK, Middlesbrough Council and NHS England are supporting a new campaign to raise awareness of cervical cancer in their workplace and allow female employees the time to attend cervical screening (smear tests) during the working day if they cannot get an appointment outside of work hours.

Time to Test is a new campaign from Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the only UK charity dedicated to women affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities, and has been created to raise awareness of cervical cancer, a preventable disease but one that claims three lives every day. The campaign, which has also been supported by GE Healthcare, has seen sign ups from employers across a wide range of industries including NHS England, Illamasqua, Middlesbrough Council, GSK, Irwin Mitchell, Action for Charity, Pelican Healthcare Limited, APL Health, The & Partnership and Prospectus.

The charity hopes more businesses will join the campaign at jostrust.org.uk/TimeToTest.

Cervical screening can detect abnormal cells before they develop in to cancerous cells and prevents against 75% of cervical cancers, yet one in four women does not attend this potentially life-saving test and more than 3000 women a year are diagnosed with cervical cancer. Research by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust has shown that among women who have missed or delayed screening:

• 39% didn’t find it easy to leave work in order to attend
• 26% would be more encouraged to attend if their company was more flexible and they didn’t have to take holiday for an appointment
• One in three 25-29 year olds, where screening attendance is at its lowest, are too embarrassed to talk to their employers about screening.

Time to Test is a campaign for every industry with the aim of increasing accessibility to cervical screening, and ultimately saving lives. As part of the campaign, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust is asking businesses to raise awareness of cervical cancer and how it can be prevented among their employees and to ensure they know vital information such as symptoms and where to get support.

Robert Music, Chief Executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust said: “Worryingly, the number of women diagnosed with cervical cancer each day has recently risen from eight to nine and the number of women delaying or ignoring their cervical screening invitation is also rising year on year. We know from our research that for working women a barrier to screening is accessibility. Through Time to Test we hope to encourage businesses to promote cervical cancer prevention and ensure female staff have the time to get tested. We are delighted that so many companies have already joined the campaign and hope many more follow suit. Cervical screening is a five-minute test, but it is one that could save a life.”