Woman, 23, died of cervical cancer after medics dismissed her symptoms FIFTEEN times saying she was too young for a smear test and was only worrying due to 'Jade Goody effect'
A young woman who was told 15 times by her GP that she did not need a smear test despite experiencing symptoms of cervical cancer died from the disease just a year later.
Emma Swain, 23, was told by her doctor that she too young for a smear test and was worrying too much due to the 'Jade Goody effect' after she repeatedly asked him for the potentially life-saving test in 2013.
However Emma was later diagnosed with cervical cancer in December 2013 and passed away the following October at the age of just 23.
Her GP at The Haling Park Partnership in Croydon, South London, who initially claimed Emma's contraceptive pill was the cause of her symptoms, has since admitted that she would probably still be alive had she been given the smear test.
Emma Swain was told 15 times by her GP that she did not need a smear test after she began to experience symptoms of cervical cancer
The young woman first sought a smear test from her doctor in May 2013 after she began to experience back pain and bleeding after intercourse.
Over the next four months, Emma contacted her GP another 14 times but was told she was too young to take the test and should simply change her contraceptive pill.
Emma's father Darren, 51, told The Mirror: 'To have watched one of your children go through that and to know it could have been prevented is incredibly hard to accept.
'We trusted these people – the professionals – to know what they were doing. I'll never forgive them.'
He added: 'Basically, he told her she was worrying over nothing. He couldn't have been more wrong. It cost Emma her life.'
Following Emma's death in 2013, her father was given an apology letter from The Haling Park Partnership.
A spokesperson for the surgery has since said that they have reviewed their processes to 'ensure lessons have been learned'.
Emma's father Darren (pictured with Emma), 51, said knowing his daughter's death could have been prevented was 'incredibly hard to accept'
Emma was told she was too young to take a smear test before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in December 2013
The 'Jade Goody' effect
Reality star Jade Goody was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 while she was appearing on the Indian version of Big Brother in a bid to make amends for the race row.
She was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer after initially ignoring a letter stating that she needed to have abnormal cells removed from her cervix.
The mother-of-two had already been treated on three previous occasions for pre-cancerous cells found during smear tests.
After her diagnosis, Jade's cancer spread to her bowel, liver and groin and she died on Mother's Day in March 2009.
She left behind two sons, Bobby and Freddy who are cared for by their father and Jade's ex, Jeff Brazier.
In the year of Jade's very public battle with cancer, just as attendance at screenings was beginning to decline, 0.4 million extra attendances occurred.
University Hospital Lewisham carried out 21 per cent more tests in the months since Jade was diagnosed compared with the same period the previous year.
Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust also saw a huge rise in women seeking support and wanting more information about cancer following Jade's death.
In 2008, reality star Jade Goody was diagnosed with cancer while she was appearing on the Indian version of Big Brother.
After her diagnosis, Jade's cancer spread to her bowel, liver and groin and she died on Mother's Day in March 2009.
In the year of Jade's very public battle with cancer, just as attendance at screenings were beginning to decline, 0.4 million extra attendances occurred.
Jade's Legacy was a campaign set up to echo her call for more women to go for screening.
Earlier this year, figures revealed almost a quarter of a million women are overdue their cervical smear tests as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some 3.2million women have been screened for the cancer in the last 12 months to the end of March 2020, down 240,000 on the 3.43million checked last year.
The NHS shut down the majority of its services in early March to free up beds for an influx of Covid-19 patients when the crisis started to spiral. It means millions of vital tests, appointments and operations were delayed.
When detected at an early stage, the five-year survival rate for women with invasive cervical cancer is 92 per cent. But, if left to spread to the surrounding tissue or organs, this figure is slashed to 56 per cent.
Even when services got back up and running over the summer, many patients were hesitant to use the NHS for fear of catching Covid or being a burden on the health service.
The NHS encourages all women aged 25 to 49 to get screened for cervical cancer every three years, and all those aged 50 to 64 every five years.
Around 3,200 women are diagnosed with the disease every year, or eight every day, according to Cancer Research UK.
The NHS report published this month found that 4.63million women had been invited for the checks, the second highest number since 2010.
What is cervical cancer and what does a smear test do?
Cervical cancer affects the lining of the lower part of womb.
The most common symptom is unusual bleeding, such as between periods, during sex or after the menopause, but other signs can include:
Causes can include:
What is a smear test?
A smear test detects abnormal cells on the cervix, which is the entrance to the uterus from the vagina.
Removing these cells can prevent cervical cancer.
Most test results come back clear, however, one in 20 women show abnormal changes to the cells of their cervix.
In some cases, these need to be removed or can become cancerous.
Cervical cancer most commonly affects sexually-active women aged between 30 and 45.
In the UK, the NHS Cervical Screening Programme invites women aged 25-to-49 for a smear every three years, those aged 50 to 64 every five years, and women over 65 if they have not been screened since 50 or have previously had abnormal results.
Women must be registered with a GP to be invited for a test.
In the US, tests start when women turn 21 and are carried out every three years until they reach 65.
Changes in cervical cells are often caused by the human papilloma virus , which can be transmitted during sex.