We would like to take this opportunity to give you some information regarding your test and the results.
- Please try to attend the appointment, if possible, without small children
- We cannot carry out the test whilst you are menstruating (having your period), so please reschedule your appointment by replying to the test we have sent you to cancel.
- The result will be sent to your home address, and to the person who has taken your sample, within 8 weeks.
- Once your carnival screening sample is sent to the lab, it will be tested for high-risk Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). If no HPV is found, no further tests will be done. You will then be invited for cervical screening in 3 years if this test was taken before your 50th birthday, or in 5 years if you are over 50.
- If HPV is detected your sample will also be looked at for abnormal cells. Looking for abnormal cells I called ‘cytology’. If none are found, your result will say that you have HPS but no abnormal cells. You will be asked to come for screening again in 12 months’ time.
- If HPV is detected and abnormal cervical cells are found, you will be referred to Colposcopy for further investigation. Colposcopy involves looking closely at the cervix to see wither any treatment is needed. It is carried out in a way , similar to cervical screening. If you are invited for colposcopy, you will be sent by post the leaflet “NHS cervical screening – the colposcopy examination”.
- It is also possible to have an “inadequate” result. This may be due to a technical problem, such as if the laboratory cannot get a HPV test result from your sample or cannot see if abnormal cells are present or not.
- If you have an inadequate result, you will need to come back again in 3 months for this test to be repeated. We wait so that there are enough cells again to get a sample from. This is not an indication of an abnormal result.
Partners: Dr N A Crowe, Dr R P Gray, Dr C Watson, Mrs T Stuchlik.