As mentioned in an earlier update, there is an urgent debate being held in the Senedd next week (Wednesday) regarding the increased interval with cervical screening. WE NEED YOUR HELP!
To ensure your voices and concerns are heard, I urge you to contact your Member of the Senedd (can be found here with your postcode: https://senedd.wales/find-a-member-of-the-senedd ) to raise your concerns in the increase of time between screening. We need as many members of the Senedd supporting this call for a reversal, or at least offer 3 year screening as a personal choice.
Just as Russell George MS said: "more effective tests will only be more effective if conducted more regularly."
Below is a draft letter you can copy and paste and use in your email.
Thank you for your continued support and for all the personal messages I have received! If you do contact your MS, please let us know in the comments below!
A huge thank you!
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Dear Member of the Senedd.
I wrote to ask you to support the campaign which has seen over 1 million signatures to a petition asking Welsh Government to keep the cervical screening test to a three year provision not the five they are determined to proceed with.
You will undoubtedly have seen that there are calls to support the five year testing programme from leading charities across Wales, who have been led by the recommendations of Welsh Government and Public Health Wales on the basis that if the HPV virus has not been detected in test samples then the chances of developing cervical cancer are reduced but not annulled completely.
The virus can lay dormant for five to ten years and I and other 1 million others firmly believe that the five year gap in testing is far too long and the method does not account for the detection of cervical cancer that is not linked to the HPV virus, not for those who have had pre-cancerous or cancerous cell treatment in the past.
Not only do we need clarification but we need to dispel the anxiety this has caused across Wales and to at least offer a three year screening tests, with a maximum 5 year interval if they prefer.
I write to ask you to support over 1 million petitioners and over 30,000 who have since petitioned the Senedd.
Yours