STORY
Millions of women in England are to be offered free home testing kits for the virus that causes almost all cervical cancers as the NHS attempts to increase screening rates.
Women aged between 30 and 65 who are not up to date with cervical screening will be able to carry out a vaginal swab themselves before returning the sample to an NHS laboratory. Kits will be available through the NHS app and website, while some eligible women will receive invitations by text, email or letter.
Around four million eligible women are currently not up to date with cervical screening and uptake is below the NHS target. The programme is intended to remove some of the practical and personal barriers associated with attending a conventional screening appointment and forms part of the NHS ambition to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2040.