DISABLED people are at risk of cancer as women are unable to have cervical screenings in GP surgeries.

HELENA VESTY reports on a Bolton woman’s campaign to change the system.

CERVICAL screenings hit the headlines this year after the number of women participating dropped to the lowest in two decades as one in four failed to take up the test.

However, disabled women say that they are prevented from even having screenings, despite requesting to be checked.

Muscular Dystrophy UK campaigner Fiona Anderson, from Heaton, says she has never been able to have a cervical cancer screening.

The reason is a lack of equipment in GP surgeries which would enable disabled women to have the test.

Hoists are essential so that disabled people can transfer safely on to medical examination tables.

Now the 30-year-old mum-of-two has launched a petition to compel the NHS to take steps to give people with disabilities equal access to screenings. This includes making hoists available in every NHS medical centre.

The petition gained over 100,000 signatures in just one month and Ms Anderson, of Sixth Avenue, has her sights set on taking the cause to Downing Street.

She said: “It’s a thing disabled women have just got used to for the past ten or 20 years.

“No one has really tried to do anything about it. I think it’s because of how personal the issue is.

“But if it’s so talked about in the disabled community, then it’s definitely a problem. We’ve got to expand beyond our community to get any success.”

Currently, hoists are not available at GP surgeries and there is no database which shows clinics and medical centres which do have the equipment.

This means that patients with disabilities have to be referred to hospital for screenings.

Ms Anderson says the referral system has failed her repeatedly.

She has been told she requires screening results already in order to be referred — results which are impossible to achieve as her GP surgery does not have a hoist. She said: “My current surgery doesn’t have a hoist, my last surgery didn’t have a hoist. As far as getting a cervical screening is concerned — as a mum-of-two it’s something I wanted to have.

“They are not willing to refer me to a place that might have a hoist because I have no previous record of pre-cancerous cells, but that’s because I’ve never had a scan.”

Ms Anderson added: “I still receive letters reminding me my smear test is overdue and that by skipping it I’m risking my life.

“My dad passed away from a form of cancer and when you get a diagnosis you need to be very quick to have the proper treatment .

“I run the risk of cervical cancer going undetected purely because of an accessibility issue related to my disability.”

Ms Anderson argued in a letter to the government that if made available in local surgeries, hoists could be used by people with every kind of access issue for any examination, not just cervical screenings.

However, Ms Anderson was frustrated with the response from Steve Brine MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care.

The response read: “A hoist would rarely be used within a GP surgery and the staff are unlikely to have the training to ensure safe use.”

Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the only charity in the UK focused on those affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities, says that there is a general misunderstanding of disabled women’s health in this area.

A spokesman for the charity said that disabled women have been told by medical professionals that they need not have screenings, under the assumption that they were not sexually active and therefore at a low risk.

A spokesman for NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said that the lack of hoists could come as a result of a number of things, including the size of the practice.

The spokesman said: “All our GPs are made aware of the process of referring people with complex needs.

“Gynaecology wards and women’s health care wards say they do receive referrals from GPs. They are equipped to receive women with disabilities.”

Mr Anderson also expressed her concerns for those bed-ridden, who may not be able to get to hospital in the first place to have the check.

The CCG spokesman said: “We would always prefer for the patient to be in a facility but the government guidance says that domiciliary visits can be arranged.”

NHS England is the body leading the operational delivery of cervical screenings.

In response to questions raised about the lack of accessibility, an NHS England spokesman said: “As set out in the Long Term Plan, the NHS is taking action to do more for people with a disability, including rapidly expanding the number of people getting health checks every year, and as we increase access to care across the country, local NHS services will need to do more to increase screening of all underserved groups in their own community.”