Health officials at Peterborough City Hospital in Cambridgeshire are calling on eligible women and people with a cervix to book their routine cancer checks following a sustained drop in attendance. The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust launched a local campaign on 1 February 2026 to help catch early signs of illness and improve survival rates after a multi‑year decline in screening uptake.
Local figures show that nearly one‑third of eligible people in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area are missing routine cervical and breast screening appointments. Attendance for cervical screening in the region has fallen to about 68.8 per cent, well below the national 80 per cent target. Health leaders say confusion about the move to five‑year screening intervals for some HPV‑negative age groups (introduced in 2025) and general ‘screening fatigue’ are contributing factors. NHS guidance stresses that regular checks remain essential for spotting cancer before symptoms appear.
To make testing more convenient, the trust is running extra ‘super‑Saturday’ clinics and deploying mobile screening vans to community locations and local towns. The campaign sits alongside a national cancer plan announced in early February 2026 that includes investment in diagnostics and technology to detect cancers earlier. Dr Stuti Mukherjee, Clinical Lead for Cancer and Diagnostics at NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, said catching illness at an early stage significantly boosts a person’s chance of recovery.
The programme is also working with Royal Papworth clinicians as part of the roll‑out of mobile CT lung‑screening units for eligible residents in Peterborough and Huntingdon. New equipment and digital tools at Peterborough City Hospital are being used to speed up processing of tests and biopsies, with the aim of shortening waits so treatment can start as soon as it is needed.
