Cervical Screening

Your Health, Your Future –
Make Screening a Priority.

A cervical screening test (also known as a sample or smear) looks to see if you might be at greater risk of developing cervical cancer.

Approximately 8 in 10 women and people with a cervix attend their cervical screening, but we encourage even more to take part regularly when invited. Early detection of abnormal cells can save lives.

The Free Cervical Screening Programme

Just how many people with a cervix

undergo cervical screening?

In Guernsey, the cervical screening programme offers FREE tests to women and individuals with a cervix aged 25 to 65.

From July 2025, younger women and people with a cervix (aged 25 to 49) with no recent history of HPV infection, who then test negative for HPV, will be at very low risk of cervical cancer over the next 10 years and will safely be invited by their GP for their free screening appointment at five-year intervals rather than three. This is in line with major clinical evidence and follows the UK National Screening Committee's recommendation.

Those women and people with a cervix whose sample indicates the presence of HPV or who have a recent history of HPV, which causes nearly all cervical cancers, will continue to be invited to more frequent screenings to check whether HPV has cleared and if not, if any cell changes have developed. This approach is already used for women and those with a cervix aged 50 to 64 and follows robust evidence on how often those eligible need to be safely screened.

For further information and FAQs, please click HERE to view/download the States of Guernsey Cervical Screening information document.