NHS England will begin sending HPV testing kits to women in England from Tuesday, offering free home swabs to those who have missed cervical screening appointments. The kits are aimed at women aged 30 to 65 who have not attended their screening when invited.
Dr Sue Mann, the national clinical director for women’s health at NHS England, called the rollout a gamechanger. She said the home swab is a simple test women can do at home in minutes, and that millions of women who are not up to date with cervical screening will be eligible for invitations through the NHS app, text message, email or letter.
Dr Sue Mann and NHS England
The kit contains a swab that collects a sample from the vagina, which is then posted back to the NHS free of charge and tested in labs for high-risk human papillomavirus. If high-risk HPV is found, the patient will be asked to attend a cervical screening appointment with a clinician. That keeps the follow-up inside the same screening pathway, rather than ending the process with the home test.
Dr Mann said: "Screening saves thousands of lives each year by preventing cancers and catching them earlier, but only around two-thirds of women are attending cervical screening appointments when invited by the NHS." She added: "Offering millions of women an alternative test they can do from the comfort of their own homes will be a gamechanger – making it easier than ever for them to get tested for HPV."
Women in England and cervical screening
NHS England says about 4 million women are not up to date with cervical screening, while the latest figures show 68.8% of eligible women are current. Women aged between 24 and 64 are invited every five years, or more often if HPV is detected, and the scheme is part of the NHS target of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040.
That target sits against a clear gap in uptake: the service has set 80% as the level it wants to reach, yet current attendance remains below that mark. Athena Lamnisos described the move as a "step-change", and Michelle Mitchell said: "Cervical screening is a powerful tool that saves lives – it can prevent cervical cancer or spot it at an earlier stage when treatment is more likely to be successful."
The immediate test for the rollout is practical: how many women order the kit after receiving an invitation, and how many return the swab for lab testing. For women who have put off screening, the process now starts with a home sample instead of an appointment room.
