I am not from the first generation in my family to have had cervical cancer. My aunt was diagnosed with it in the early 70s, but at a much later stage than me. She was a couple of years older and her circumstances were similar in many ways – so that when I was diagnosed it was terrifying. My aunt died of her illness but I survived because of an earlier diagnosis through a routine cervical smear test and improved treatment from the NHS. I am among the many women MPs who are now fighting to ensure that screening for cancer continues.

The chance of surviving cancer of the cervix or of the breast for more than 5 years after being diagnosed in the early 70s was just 50:50, now its 80% for breast cancer and over 60% for cancer of the cervix. Screening enables cancer to be detected earlier or even prevented from developing. This is crucial because the earlier a cancer is detected, the better a person’s chance of survival.

One of the reasons Britain’s cancer survival rates are lower than comparable countries is that many people are unaware of the cancer screening programmes available, or decline to attend screening. Breast, cervical and now also bowel cancer screening are effective and really do save lives. But we could save even more if people attended when invited.  There are several possible reasons people don’t attend, ranging from busy lives to an understandable reluctance to submit to invasive screening processes. It is also possible that the screening programme has been so successful that women have lost the awareness of its importance. The number of deaths is lower, so the perception could be that the problem is not so great. We’re also all very good at ignoring things until the very last moment and whilst ignoring things like bills may not be life threatening, ignoring the first signs of changes in your body may well be.

The Department of Health's Public Service Agreement Objective 1 is to reduce mortality rates by 2010 from cancer by at least twenty per cent in people under 75. Strategic Health Authorities working in partnership with their PCTs, local screening services and stakeholders must provide appropriate cancer screening services for our constituents. That is why it is important for MPs to engage with their local PCT on this. I wrote to my PCT to ask the percentage uptake for women attending breast and cervical cancer screening, what initiatives they are running to increase uptake in screening and how they are planning for future workforce needs. By raising cancer screening with PCTs, MPs can make sure it is higher up their agenda.

More people need to speak out about their cancers and the importance of early diagnosis through screening. Whilst the taboos that once surrounded talking about cancer have largely disappeared, too many people think it won’t happen to them. Cervical, breast and ovarian cancers are often very difficult to diagnose until the later stages, which means that awareness of the screening programme and greater participation in it has the potential to improve survival rates dramatically. To reach the Department of Health’s targets we need to do more than sit back and wait for health practitioners to do it all for us. I am amazed at how often women say they are too busy to go to a mammogram or a cervical smear test. We have a brilliant screening programme that saves lives and we should use it: when did you or the women in your life last go for their regular screening test? If you don’t know, act now!