Latest data shows that Wandsworth has some of the lowest cervical screening coverage in England, particularly in Asian communities.
Residents, voluntary sector groups and health experts talked about the particular barriers Asian residents face in accessing cervical screening, as well as some of the opportunities to improve uptake.
Wandsworth was one of four areas to be awarded support from the Institute for Voluntary Action Research as part of a national programme to address health inequalities (unfair differences in health that exist between different groups of people).
We aim to work together to remove potential barriers including language, culture and misinformation to make sure as many women as possible take up the offer of these vital tests.”
Roehampton GP Dr Farwa Hasan said: “We wanted to understand some of the reasons that might prevent women from attending a cervical screening appointment and what might help to overcome these barriers.
“From our conversations with Asian community leaders, we knew that the reasons can be personal, for example, fear or uncertainty about what screening entails or a lack of clear and relevant information about when to attend a screening appointment or why.”
She added: “We aim to work together to remove potential barriers, including language, culture and misinformation, to make sure as many women as possible take up the offer of these vital tests.”
A steering group will work with the community to codesign the next steps. It is likely pilot projects will be developed in two areas of Wandsworth and may cover actions including:
- Extending the choice of appointment times, taking account of caring responsibilities.
- Producing culturally-appropriate communications that are more accessible to overcome language barriers.
- Increasing community outreach with champions on social media to address misinformation.
- Ensuring people know that female health professionals carry out the screening and staff receive cultural sensitivity training.
Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and screening can save lives.”
NHS South West London place executive for Merton, Mark Creelman said: “We are grateful to all the community members for joining forces to increase screening uptake. We will be meeting GPs for the next phase of this work, building on what we heard at this session and guided by advice from Asian communities in these areas. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and screening can save lives.”
Ravi Vyas, Wandsworth Care Alliance development manager added: “As we strive to help support our communities, it was important that the project reached the correct people. Our outreach across Wandsworth allowed us to contact and get feedback from both service users and organisational leaders, as well as providing a safe location that represents the South Asian community. It has been a pleasure to collaborate on this project with the entire team.”
Connecting Health Communities is an action research project and is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund which believe that better collaborations and partnerships lead to better health outcomes for communities.