Funding of £1.5 million to support a new initiative that will use an at-home test to diagnose HPV

Funding from Yorkshire Cancer Research has allowed Hull and Manchester to test an at-home test for human papillomavirus (HPV).

Rather than focusing on cell mutations, the NHS Cervical Screening Programme will now test for the human papillomavirus (HPV), which has been linked to virtually all cases of cervical cancer. However, women over 65 are not usually asked to cervical screening, and many women in this age group had already quit screening prior to this change in policy.

An HPV test will be offered to these women by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Universities of Manchester and Hull in a partnership with local primary care providers. In this study, 10,000 women in Hull and Manchester are planned to participate, which will establish whether at-home cancer screenings are a successful technique for preventing cancer in this older age group.

Instead of the discomfort of regular cervical screening, the “Catch-up Screen” project will require women to give a urine sample, which is an effective technique of testing for HPV. It’s hoped that this may encourage women who hadn’t previously been screened to participate in the research study.

Additional testing and, if necessary, treatment will be referred to women who have tested positive for HPV.

Women in Hull and Manchester will be the first to be contacted in April 2023 about participating in this study.