DR DAWN’S medical notes…
BACK IN 2009, REALITY TV STAR JADE GOODY lost her battle against cervical cancer. Her tragic story was very public, which undoubtedly saved hundreds of lives by encouraging other women to get tested. In my own surgery, women who had previously declined invitations for smear tests came forward asking to be screened. And that scenario was repeated throughout the country. There were about half a million extra cervical screening attendances in the year following her death. It was referred to as ‘the Goody effect’. But 10 years on, that effect is wearing off. We have the lowest uptake of cervical screening invitations for 20 years, with one in four women not attending for their smear tests, many of them younger women, in particular those aged 25 to 29.