HUNDREDS of thousands of women in the South West are overdue for a potentially life-saving cancer test.
According to research from the Labour Party, there has been a rise of more than 23,000 women who have not taken up the chance to have a smear test, which can show the early signs of cervical cancer.
Alison Seabeck, Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View, said access to a GP at a time which suited them was behind the increase. She called for the Government to take action as matter of the highest priority.
"The steep rise in women due their smear test, over 23,000 more women in the South West, is of huge concern and should be taken very seriously by this Government," she said.
"Access to a GP is an issue that comes up time and again on the doorstep here in Plymouth and a third of those women missing their appointments cite difficulty getting an appointment as the reason.
"When it's difficult to get a GP appointment, people are either more likely to turn to A&E, or they don't go at all."
According to figures gathered from data compiled buy the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), in 2009/10 a total of 200,684 women between age 25-49 were overdue for their smear test.
By 2012/13 this number had risen by 12% to 224,452. For women aged 50-64, there were 85,312 who were overdue for their smear test in 2009/10, but this had increased by 13% to 96,263 in 2012/13. Mrs Seabeck blamed Government cutbacks and said women were "paying the price" of a squeeze on funding.
"The Government should listen to what patients want so that women don't have to choose between work and taking care of their health," she said.
Richard Winder, deputy director of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, said screening was vital and every effort was made to encourage women to take up the offer of a smear test.
"Busier lifestyles often make it more of a challenge for women to attend their cervical screening appointments, but regular screening remains the best preventative measure against cervical cancer and we strongly encourage all women to accept the offer for cervical screening when invited," he said.
Figures compiled by the HSCIC has shown nationally the proportion of women aged 25 to 49 years who have had cervical screening has fallen by two percentage points.
Chairman Kingsley Manning, said their data provided vital information for clinicians and planners on how many women were being screened.
"While we cannot tell how many abnormalities might be being missed among those women not taking up the invitation for screening, it is concerning to see the fall in coverage among the younger women."
