3. Will the First Minister make a statement on proposed changes to cervical screening timescales? OQ57431

I thank Vikki Howells for that, Llywydd. Cervical Screening Wales has implemented the recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee and extended the routine screening interval of people aged between 25 and 49 from three to five years if HPV is not found in their cervical screening test. The screening interval is now aligned with that for 50 to 64-year-olds in Wales. 

Thank you, First Minister. I'm sure like many of us here today, I was contacted by lots of constituents concerned that Cervical Screening Wales had extended the routine interval for cervical screening from three to five years for those aged 25 to 49. I appreciate the reasoning behind this decision, based as it is on a good news story of medical advancements and the resulting guidance from the UK National Screening Committee. But the communication of that news, with little detail as to why this change was happening, was problematic to say the least. How has the Welsh Government engaged with partners to get that information out there, and what lessons have been learnt regarding the communication of this type of important public health message in the future?

Llywydd, I entirely share the frustration of Vikki Howells at the way that a success story was communicated in a way that caused such anxiety to so many people, because the screening system in Wales is a success story. We were the first part of the United Kingdom to change our screening system to a more sensitive test for cervical cancer in 2018. We've had vaccination for HPV amongst young women since 2008, and the risks from cervical cancer in the years to come will be very different, and much lower, than they were for so many people in the past.

Look, I'm just going to put on record if I could, Llywydd, what the decision actually means. When someone is tested in future, if their test shows that they are at high risk of HPV and that there are cell changes in the sample taken, they will be invited immediately for a colposcopy. If there are high-risk HPV signs but no cell changes, then the interval to the next screening will be one year. If there is no HPV and no cell changes demonstrated in the sample, then someone will be invited for cervical screening in five years' time. It's a change that maximises the benefits of the system and will save more lives. 

Now, there is learning to be done by Public Health Wales in the way they communicated this. They failed to explain to people the benefits of what was being proposed, how this will make the system better and stronger and more successful, and, as a result, we saw that string of people confused and made anxious by it. I think PHW has done its best to recover some of that ground since then, by putting out clearer and better information, and I'm really grateful to those third sector and cancer charities that came in and helped with that explanatory effort. Next time, we need to make sure that that's got right before the announcement is made, not as a sort of rescue effort after things have gone wrong. 

Thank you, First Minister. It has been incredibly concerning for all the women of Wales, regarding the move from three years to five years between cervical screenings, as you can see from the sheer number of people who have signed that petition, up to over 1 million now. I must admit my own panic initially, when hearing the news, having lived through the Jade Goody effect—I don't know if you remember her—her sad death from cervical cancer and the publicity campaign that ensued from that on the importance of having cervical smear screening. It made a huge difference, that campaign.

It still concerns me, and has made many people anxious, that there is an extra whole two years before you can be screened, because, as I'm sure you're aware, some people's cells will grow at a fast rate, and will develop in a couple of years. I do understand that, in the last couple of years now, we have a screening that identifies HPV first, and then looks for cell changes afterwards, and, if there is HPV present, that then cell changes are looked at next, which is a welcome change. It's a brilliant advancement in cervical cancer smears, and hopefully will save lives. However, the most worrying thing about all of this, as has been outlined by Vikki, is that the publicity campaign was so bad. The communication was worryingly bad, and ensued a lot of panic across the nation and alarmed people and was not informative at all in a way to reassure people about the changes, the welcome changes. So, First Minister, due to the significant public outcry on this, will you now please launch another campaign, in the same way as the Jade Goody campaign was back in the 1990s, to inform our citizens of the significant changes that have taken place and restore faith in the screening process, which is a worry in itself, as well as to encourage all those women who haven't stepped forward in the last 10 years to come forward for screening themselves? Thank you. 

Well, I thank the Member for those important points, Llywydd. First of all, to say, of course, if anybody feels that their health is changing and that things may not be as they would want them to be, they shouldn't wait for screening, they should present themselves to their GP and make sure that their health needs are attended to immediately. So, where people, who know their own bodies best, feel there are changes happening, there is no suggestion here at all that people must wait for five years to find out whether that is the case or not. That's not the purpose of screening. That is why people should go and make sure they present and get the necessary investigations undertaken. 

Can I echo what the Member said at the end of what she said? About 25 per cent of people don't present themselves to the screening service. And in a perverse way, I understand, but, in the same way that that very sad story of Jade Goody drew more attention from people and more people came forward for screening, maybe the fact that this has been in the news in the way it has will at least be reminding some people that that service is there and what a successful service it is, and how important it is to come forward for it. And I know that Public Health Wales is very committed to doing everything it can now to make sure that proper information, accurate information, information that will help people to make the right choices in this area—that they do even more to try and put that story right, because, as I said, the frustration is that things have improved so much in this area, for both of those reasons, the vaccination programme and the changes to screening, that we want people to understand that the changes are there as a result of success and don't in any way undermine the efficiency and effectiveness of the service that is there for them. 

Question 4, Joyce Watson. 

Can you wait? Can you start again, Joyce? Thanks.