A CERVICAL cancer survivor is calling for home HPV testing to be introduced in Scotland – and become a world leader in the battle against the disease.
Mum-of-three Emma Keyes was just 29 when a smear revealed she had the killer condition.
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She had put off the test after having her third child and was only reminded to book in after seeing a video on Facebook.
Now she’s using her experience to help others and has launched a Scottish Parliament petition calling for testing to become more accessible for women across the country.
Emma, 31, said: “If I hadn’t seen that video, would have I gone for my smear test so early and would my outcome be what it is now?
“There are still young girls not going for their smear tests then getting diagnosed with cancer a lot later down the line than they should and losing their lives.
“That’s why I am campaigning for HPV at-home testing. People are busy, like myself, they are working or have children.
“Going for the test can save your life and is so important to go for — but there’s a better system out there that could work for us.”
Emma had just had her third baby and knew she was due a smear 12 weeks after giving birth but put it off as it was during height of the Covid pandemic and she didn’t want to burden the already overstretched NHS services.
The Bothwell mum, to Kimmy, ten, Harry, five, and Cooper, four, said:
“I just put my smear test to the bottom of the pile.
“I had never even properly looked into how important the test was. Looking back now I think how silly that was.
“I thought it was something that could wait until everything was back up and running. Then I came across a video on Facebook, a woman sharing her story of being diagnosed with cervical cancer and was telling people to go for their smear.
“After that I booked in for my test. I was only a couple of months late. It was then I got diagnosed.”
The diagnosis was a major shock to Emma and husband Richard McClounie, 28. She was a young, fit and active mum and thought cancer wasn’t something that should happen to her.
The HGV transport manager said: “I was absolutely devastated. I didn’t even think of myself, I thought of my kids.
“I had brought three young babies into the world and thought, ‘I’m going to lose my life and that’s going to be their childhood’.
“It wasn’t like I was going to give up my fight but you always think the worst when you hear cancer.”
Her treatment was successful but during her battle she started to think there was a better way for women to be screened for the disease.
Since 2020, women are invited for cervical screening every five years.
Previously, tests were needed every three years but due to advances in medicine the new tests are more accurate at detecting who is at higher risk of developing cervical cancer.
The test takes a sample from a woman’s cervix, which is examined for the presence of HPV.
“It takes only around five minutes and for most women it is quick and painless.
Despite this, the latest figures show that in Scotland in 2022, around a third of women were not up to date with their smear test.
Meanwhile, more than 300 people are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the country each year and just under a third do not survive.
At-home testing has already been trialled in Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway in 2021 and was a success with women who had previously not responded to invites for their smear test.
These women told that they would prefer home sampling and would participate more if it was an option. Emma said: “At the start of all this I didn’t think there would be an alternative to smear testing, never mind that the whole testing was actually up and running.
“And this wasn’t being trialled and tested in America or Sweden but in Dumfries and Galloway.
“After that I started going on to social media to let people know that this pilot was a thing and asked what people think of it.
“That brought me on to meeting Labour politician Monica Lennon and campaigning to try to get at-home testing implemented into the healthcare system in Scotland.”
While Emma has had a lot of positive feedback on her drive, there are others who are more sceptical.
She said: “A lot of people have commented, ‘How ridiculous are you to think that smear testing can be done at home’.
“I’m not that ridiculous. I understand we cannot sit in our bedrooms with a speculum.
“But the at-home test is just a simple swab, the same as we would get for thrush, or other health reasons for women. Probably about 99.9 per cent of the population of women in Scotland have carried out these kinds of tests.
“It’s a simple swab, you would just pop it in the post, send it away and that’s your smear test done.
“As easy as the bowel screening — but actually those are so much harder when you have to go to the toilet and scrape a bit off on to a sample page.
“That’s ten times harder than what the at-home smear testing would be.”
Emma already has the support of Labour MSP for Central Scotland Monica and has met both the former and current Ministers for Public and Women’s Health Maree Todd and Jenni Minto.
Now her petition is gathering steam and she aims to put the issue before parliament and get a working group created to speed up the process of adopting home testing.
Emma added: “We know they have got to go with recommended health guidelines and make sure that everything has been trialled and tested and the results are there.
“I believe they are aiming in that direction but with my experiences, I believe we could work quicker and we could make Scotland the leaders in this and encourage other countries to follow suit.
“With the petition, I’m trying to get as many signatures as I can so women are aware that there are other options out there.
“I know many may think our current system is working fine but it’s not.
“There are still women dying of preventable cancer and there’s still women going through really harsh, life-changing treatment that they shouldn’t have to go through.
“If we get enough signatures it means parliament has to do something about it.”
WHAT IS A SMEAR TEST?
SMEAR tests are carried out depending on a country’s medical care system.
But they have never been more important as cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally with around 660,000 new cases each year.
Around nine ladies are diagnosed each day in the UK and the majority of cases are preventable.
A cervical screening, also called a smear test, is a test to check the health of the cervix and offered to people with a cervix aged 25 to 64.
The test sees a small sample of cells taken from your cervix which are checked for types of human papillomavirus (HPV) that can cause changes to the cells of your cervix. If “high risk” HPV is not found, you do not need any further tests.
If it is present, the sample is checked for any changes in the cells of your cervix so they can be treated before they get a chance to turn into cancer.
For England and Northern Ireland, people aged 25 to 49 receive invitations every three years and those aged 50 to 64 receive invitations every five years.
In America doctors recommend repeating pap smear testing, to check for precancerous or cancerous cells, every three years for women ages 21 to 65. This type of test doesn’t identify risk as early as HPV.
Women aged 30 and older in the US can consider Pap testing every five years if the procedure is combined with testing for HPV. Or they might consider HPV testing instead of the Pap test.
In France, there is a national cervical screening programme for women aged 25 to 65 where a doctor will carry one out every three years during routine check-ups.
People with a cervix in Germany older than 35 are offered HPV and pap smear testing every three years.
While the Spanish guidelines recommend pap smear screening in women aged 25 to 34 every three years and HPV testing in women aged 35 to 65 every five years.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Self-sampling has the potential to overcome some of the barriers that prevent people attending a screening appointment, however, the UK National Screening Committee is yet to recommend its use in the screening programme.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and laying the groundwork for a potential roll-out, so we can implement it as soon as possible when a recommendation is made.
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“Cervical screening can prevent cancer before it even starts, so it is hugely important that people make an appointment to attend when they are invited.”
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