The Bay of Plenty District Health Board is reporting a decrease in the number of women opting to take cervical test.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, several national reports indicate that there has been a decline in the number of women booking their routine tests.

BOPDHB population and women's health portfolio manager Sarah Stevenson says the decline equates to about 1000 less Bay of Plenty women of all ethnicity's having their on-time cervical screen compared to pre-Covid-19.

In the Bay of Plenty, Asian women are the only ethnicity that have seen an increase in check-ups since the start of the pandemic, as they are up 4.8 per cent from February 2020.

Māori women have seen a 4.7 per cent decrease in on-time cervical screens from February 2020, Pacific women have seen a 2.6 per cent decrease, and European/other women have seen a 3.2 per cent decrease.

'Nationally, there has been a 6 per cent decrease of Māori wāhine screened on-time from 62.4 per cent in February 2020 to 56.4 per cent in February 2022.”

'The service noticed a sharp decline of all women for cervical screening in January to June of 2020. Cervical screening was ceased during the first lockdown that year, but more recently from July to December in 2021, we still noticed a decline even when cervical screening was still available in more recent Covid-19 settings.

'Through interaction with the support to screening service, it would appear that a number of women are waiting for the roll ot of the home kit swab and opting out of the traditional cervical smear.”

Sarah encourages all women who have not had their on-time cervical test to contact their GP.

Waikato DHB screening and sexual health services operations manager Lu-ana Ngatai says The Breast Screening Call Centre has continued booking women into the three Bay of Plenty sites as per normal process.

'The Mount, Whakatāne, and Tauranga Central have all screened women as per normal process,” says Lu-ana.

Although their have been a higher number of cancellations, the BOPDHB breast screens are above their target.

'The year-to-date target for March-end was 9704 screenings, 9865 had been completted by this time.”

'The expectation is that by the end of June 2022 13391 women will have had their mammogram within the last 12 months. That means that, at an overall level, BOPDHB will have met the 70 per cent of eligble women screened as set by Breast Screen Aotearoa.”

Lu-ana also encourages women to go in for their on-time check-ups as they save lives.

'If you reside in the Bay of Plenty and haven't had a cervical smear or breast screen please contact your GP. Alternatively, the National Screening Unit can help you find someone to take your cervical screen,” says Sarah.

'Give them a call their free phone 0800 729 729, or go to their website, https://www.timetoscreen.nz/cervical-screening/.”

'For those wanting more information about breast screening call Breast Screen Midland on 0800 270 200.”