YouScreen HPV Self-sampling Study Begins

The YouScreen HPV self-sampling study, led by King’s College London in partnership with the North Central London and North East London Cancer Alliances and other organisations, will begin in January 2021. YouScreen will be offered in the boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Islington, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

Just six GP practices will be involved at the start, but there has been a fantastic response to the call for participation and in total 166 practices have joined the study. They will be trained and brought into the study over the next few months. 

The YouScreen study aims to address the continued fall in rates of cervical screening attendance by mailing self-sampling kits directly to women and people with a cervix who are overdue their cervical screening by at least six months. In addition, GPs may offer the kit opportunistically during an unrelated telephone, video or face-to-face appointment. 

YouScreen will evaluate the impact the initiative has on improving cervical screening participation in London and the findings will be delivered to the NHS Cervical Screening Programme to inform its work.

There will be a full launch of the YouScreen study in the new year. Due to the very positive response, the study is unable to accept any more GP practices.

More information about YouScreen and how the study will work
 

This article was updated on 22 December 2020 to say that the self-sampling study will begin in January 2021 not in late November 2020.