Thousands of childminders giving mothers free childcare while for cervical cancer screening

Thousands of childminders provide free childcare to mothers while they attend their cervical cancer screening appointments.

Half of all cervical cancers develop in women who miss the Pap smear — and the most common reason is that they’re too busy because of work or child care.

Now the initiative, via nannies listed on the childcare.co.uk website, comes months after NHS data revealed that a third of eligible women in England are unaware of their cervical screening appointments or never even get one. has had one — the highest number in a decade.

Cervical cancer grows slowly and is almost always curable if detected early. Deaths have fallen by a third in the last 20 years thanks to better tests used in screening and widespread vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) – the sexually transmitted disease that causes about 99 percent of all cervical cancers.

However, some 850 women still die from the disease each year – most of which could have been prevented had they been caught earlier.

Thousands of childminders provide free childcare to mothers while they attend their cervical cancer screening appointments (file photo)

Richard Conway, CEO of childcare.co.uk, says: ‘Five thousand providers have generously offered to provide free childcare for mothers if they have a smear test. Thousands of deaths could be prevented if more women chose to get tested more often. We encourage mothers who have not had a smear test in the past three years to make an appointment with their GP and use the free childcare.’

The checks are offered every three years to women between the ages of 25 and 49 and every five years between the ages of 50 and 64.

In 2019, reports surfaced of some childminders offering the Pap smear initiative, but experts at the time said the trend was not reaching enough women.

Kate Sanger, head of policy at Jo’s Trust, a cervical cancer charity, says: ‘I’ve heard a nursery or childminder do this over the years, but it wasn’t on a larger scale.

“Childcare can be a struggle for women going to cervical screening. It’s hard to relax when kids are running around the clinic or appointments clash with school runs. There may be work obligations on top of that.

“It’s great to see the initiative expanding – it has the potential to make a real, life-saving difference.”

Two million parents connect with one million nannies listed on childcare.co.uk, one of the largest websites for childminders and babysitters in the UK. In London alone, some 66 providers offer the free childcare smear.