Cervical cancer elimination is in reach—we just need more GP appointments

by Lucy Boyd, Julia Brotherton, University of Melbourne

edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

Lisa Lock

Scientific Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process

Andrew Zinin

Chief Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process Editors' notes

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

trusted source

proofread

The GIST Add to Preferred Sources

For most Australians, general practice (GP) clinics are the first point of contact when seeking medical care. But many of us can relate to the difficulties of booking, paying for and attending an appointment.

General practitioners (GPs) are community-based doctors who provide comprehensive medical care themselves and also coordinate care from specialists, like cardiologists.

This makes GP clinics ideally placed to also offer preventive health care, which is why they've been central to delivering the National Cervical Screening Program since its inception in 1991.

A few years ago, this program was updated so that women and people with a cervix could choose to do this screening test themselves.

However, our new research published in Cancer Causes & Control has uncovered concerning shortfalls for people trying to access this care.

In order to see what it's actually like to try and get an appointment for cervical screening, we used a 'secret shopper' approach on more than 300 randomly selected GP clinics across Australia.

We called these clinics pretending to be patients trying to book an appointment. We then recorded the response from clinic reception and, in some cases, clinical staff.

Our study uncovered several barriers to accessing cervical screening, which may explain why some Australians are missing out on this important health check.

What is cervical screening and why is it important?

Cervical screening is a test that is recommended every five years to prevent cervical cancer (cancer of the neck of the womb).

You might have heard of or had a Pap smear test—this is the traditional way of checking the cells of the cervix to make sure they are healthy.

In Australia, we now use a more accurate molecular test instead. This HPV test looks for the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) and is recommended for people ages 25 to 74.

This virus causes most cases of cervical cancer, and it's best to find it and monitor or treat it early before it can cause the cell changes that lead to cancer.

Many younger Australians have now been vaccinated against HPV, which protects against up to nine types of the virus. However, vaccine rates are dropping.

And because the HPV vaccine does not protect against all types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer, vaccinated people still need to have regular cervical screening.

In 2022, the cervical screening program was updated so everyone could choose to either do their test themselves (called self-collection, which is done in private using a small swab inserted into the lower vagina) or have a health care provider collect their sample the traditional way using a speculum.

In theory, this change means improved access to screening because the test no longer needs to be done by a doctor or nurse in a clinic, though it does still require an initial GP appointment.

Lots of people find self-collection more private and comfortable, and even empowering to take their own sample.

Barriers to getting a test

Despite offering cervical screening, we found that more than one in five GP practices we contacted were unable to offer cervical screening appointments to new patients.

Around 75% of clinics contacted also charge out-of-pocket fees, averaging 50.73 Australian dollars. This is unaffordable for many, particularly for a preventive health check in an otherwise healthy person.

And although our revolutionary policy change allows people to do the test themselves, 11% of practices offering appointments either didn't offer or couldn't confirm that they offered self-collection as an option.

Availability of self-collection also varied significantly by location—ranging from 60% to 100% between the different states and territories.

Our study found that regional clinics (94%) were more likely to offer self-collection than metropolitan practices (85%), and clinics in disadvantaged socioeconomic areas showed higher availability (95%) than those in more advantaged regions (79%).

This suggests that in places where screening rates have traditionally been lower, and cancer rates higher, self-collection is seen and used as a helpful strategy to reach more people.

However, out-of-pocket fees, particularly in disadvantaged areas, may be preventing some people from accessing tests, despite their higher availability.

More work to be done

So, while Australia has been praised for the introduction of self-collection in the National Cervical Screening Program and is set to be one of the first to eliminate cervical cancer, there may be more to the story.

Our research highlights delays in rolling out the self-collection option, meaning not everyone can access cervical screening. Particular challenges still remain for individuals facing financial and structural disadvantage due to out-of-pocket costs.

Australia urgently needs policy change and increased investment to support alternative models of cervical screening.

Options like test mail-out, pharmacy-supported and community-led screening could all reduce the burden on general practices and improve accessibility nationwide.

More information

Lucy Boyd et al., Access to cervical screening in Australian general practices: a cross-sectional study using a 'secret shopper' approach, Cancer Causes & Control (2026). DOI: 10.1007/s10552-026-02215-3

Key medical concepts

Cervical Cancer ScreeningCervical Cancer

Clinical categories

Obstetrics & gynecologyWomen's healthPreventive medicineCommon illnesses & PreventionFamily medicine Provided by University of Melbourne Who's behind this story?

Lisa Lock

BA art history, MA material culture. Former museum editor, paramedic, and transplant coordinator. Editing for Science X since 2021. Full profile →

Andrew Zinin

Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →

This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article here.

Citation: Cervical cancer elimination is in reach—we just need more GP appointments (2026, November 12) retrieved 13 November 2026 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-11-cervical-cancer-gp.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.