NHS will deploy DIY smear test kits as part of a pilot project as five million British women flee the clinic

Women will be offered by the NHS self-made smear test kits to save more lives.

The rate of participation in cervical cancer screening is at its lowest level in 21 years, with the embarrbadment being blamed on millions of people.

Peter Powell

Health officials are now ready to test by mail self-sampling tests to improve screening coverage.

The "game changer" initiative follows the tough campaign launched by the #CheersForSmears Sun this year.

Five million women were unable to attend the last cervical cancer screening visit. Health officials warn that two women die every day.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, former tsar of the government responsible for cancer, told the Public Accounts Committee that the self-badessment was "very promising".

Sir Mike, who was asked to review the NHS screening programs, said: "We are about to pilot projects in this country.

"If we find that these succeed, it [test] be able to reach people who are not affected by the current service. "

The pilot projects will take place in London and the north-east of the country, and will probably target women who have missed their screening appointment.

A kit will then be sent to them within one month to encourage them to participate.

Getty – Contributor

Research suggests that DIY tests are almost as accurate as those done in a clinic.

And women who had skipped testing were twice as likely to use a home kit as responding to a reminder letter.

About three out of ten women ignored their last invitation.

Officials said the inconvenience partly fueled a decline in the number of people tested.

Duncan Selbie, director of Public Health England in England, said: "We want to find several ways to make things more convenient so that people can simply enter.

"Or do it [check] at home. We are testing home tests in some parts of the country so people do not have to go.

"It's not normal that our absorption rate is low. It's just not good. "

The activists welcomed the pilots.

Robert Music, Executive Director of Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust: "We are delighted that a pilot project for HPV self-sampling is being implemented. We have been asking for this for a long time and believe that this could change the situation regarding access to screening.

"The introduction of self-sampling will be extremely beneficial for many people, including survivors of badual violence and women with physical disabilities."

NHS Director Simon Stevens told parliamentarians that invitations to cervical cancer treatment would be brought "internally".

The result is an error in which 50,000 women have missed letters – including invitations to filter and results – as a result of the failure of outsourcing company Capita.

First TV commercial urges women to take smear tests while cervical cancer screening reaches 20-year low