How often should you get a Smear Test?
How often should you get a Smear Test?
A Smear Test (also known as a Cervical Screening) is an important test to assess the health of the cervix to help prevent cervical cancer. It’s offered to women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64. It is one of the most crucial preventative tests for protecting and ensuring women’s health. A smear test is not a test for cancer but rather a test to help prevent cancer.
If you want more details about what happens during a Smear Test, you can see our blog here. This article will focus on how often you should get a Smear Test.
England & Northern Ireland
The NHS in England and Northern Ireland follow the more traditional British approach to scheduling Smear Tests. You’ll be contacted and invited at regular intervals throughout your life. They will be more common earlier in your life when the risk of Cervical Cancer is highest and become more spaced out later in your life when the risk of Cervical Cancer is lowest.
| Age | When you’ll be contacted |
| Under 25 | Up to 6 months before you turn 25 |
| 25-49 | Every 3 years |
| 50-64 | Every 5 years |
| 65 and older | Only if a recent test was abnormal |
Scotland & Wales
The NHS in Scotland and Wales have in recent years altered slightly their approached to scheduling Smear Tests. While England and Northern Ireland follow a more rigid approach to the 25-49 age group, Scotland and Wales take a more flexible approach. When you’ll be invited back is more personalised to the results of your last test. If there was nothing concerning in your previous test, you may not be contacted for 5 years for your next test, whereas traditionally you would have been contacted within 3 years regardless of your previous results.
| Age | When you’ll be contacted |
| Under 25 | Up to 6 months before you turn 25 |
| 25-49 | Up to every 5 years if your previous test showed no HPV cells. More regularly if your previous test showed some HPV cells. |
| 50-64 | Every 5 years |
| 65 and older | Only if a recent test was abnormal |
This change in how often younger women are invited to a Smear Test reflects how the test has changed over time. The test now used throughout the UK is known as HPV Primary Screening which is more accurate than previous tests at detecting patients with a higher risk of developing cervical cancer. Due to this, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales are allowing low-risk women of this age group to wait 5 years between tests. While Scotland and Wales have been the first countries in the UK to implement this change, it is widely expected to be introduced in England and Northern Ireland eventually (Cancer Research UK).
How safe are the intervals between tests?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that in most cases it takes 15–20 years for HPV cells to become Cervical Cancer. The WHO does however state that for women with weakened immune systems, this process can take only 5–10 years. No matter which NHS system you are in, the maximum length of time between invitations to test is 5 years, meaning that attending all of your Smear tests is an incredibly effective way of preventing Cervical Cancer (World Health Organisation).
We at HapiLegs are committed to helping more women attend their smear test appointments. If you are interested in seeing our privacy-protecting HapiLegs, click here.