Rugby women have anxious wait for smear test results

A mandatory 14-day turnaround time was introduced for cervical screening results in 2010, and providers have to ensure they meet the target in at least 98% of cases.

But a Freedom of Information request by RADAR to Public Health England has revealed that 65% of women screened in the NHS Coventry And Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group area in the 12 months to July waited longer than two weeks for their results.

This means that 14,980 women who attended a smear test in this period - two in every three - didn’t get their results through on time.

More than three million results were sent out in England over the same period, and almost half of them were late.

Robert Music, chief executive of cervical cancer charity Jo’s Trust, said: “Lots of people have approached us through our helpline saying they are waiting 12, 14, 16 weeks for their results.