Cervical screening (a smear test) is a test to check the health of the cervix and help prevent cervical cancer. It’s offered to women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64.
Cervical screening checks the health of your cervix and helps find any abnormal changes before they can turn into cancer.
Who is at risk of cervical cancer:
- you’ve had the HPV vaccine – it does not protect you from all types of HPV, so you’re still at risk of cervical cancer
- you’ve only had 1 sexual partner – you can get HPV the first time you’re sexually active
- you’ve had the same partner, or not had sex, for a long time – you can have HPV for a long time without knowing it
- you’re a lesbian or bisexual – you’re at risk if you’ve had any sexual contact
- you’re a trans man with a cervix – read about if trans men should have cervical screening
- you’ve had a partial hysterectomy that did not remove all of your cervix
Trans men and non-binary people:
Trans men and non-binary people who have had a total hysterectomy to remove their cervix do not need cervical screening.
Trans men and non-binary people who still have a cervix should have cervical screening to help prevent cervical cancer.
See below video on how a cervical screening is done:
