The proportion of women taking part in cervical cancer screening has failed to increase despite recent high profile cases, according to figures reported yesterday.
More than one in five eligible women have not undergone testing in the last five years, according to new figures.
And the numbers not taking part are especially high among the youngest age group of women – those in their 20s, the figures show.
There was a surge in up-take of screening following the death of outspoken TV star Jade Goody from cervical cancer.
The proportion of women screened in the previous five years stood at 78.6% at the end of March, according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
This compared with 81.6% in 2002.
Women aged between 25 and 49 are invited every three years but in spite of this just 73.5% had undergone screening within the previous five years at the end of March.
The problem of non-attendance is greatest in London.
The director of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes Professor Julietta Patnick said:
"While it is encouraging that cervical screening coverage remains steady at 78.6%, we remain concerned by the overall downward trend over the last 10 years and are working to better understand and reverse this.
"A particular concern is the low coverage in 25 to 29 year-old women. Despite the recent increases in numbers attending screening thanks to Jade Goody, coverage in these younger women is 10 per cent lower than in 30 to 34 year-olds, and 20 per cent lower than in 50 to 54 year-old women.
"We are working hard to address this – for example, the NIHR is helping us investigate new ways of improving screening uptake among women when they are invited for the first time."
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