All women aged between 25 and 64 are invited for cervical screening in the UK. Also called a smear test or pap test, it’s a test aiming to prevent cancer rather than a test for whether you have cancer. It checks for a certain virus that can disrupt the cells of the cervix (the opening to your womb from your vagina). If you have the virus, the cells of the cervix can then be checked for any changes that could, with time, lead to cervical cancer. Your local health authority will get your age and address details from your GP records and send you an invitation (usually by post). If you’re under 25, you’ll be invited every 6 months until you are 25, every 3 years if you’re 25 to 49 and every 5 years if you’re aged 50 to 64. After the age of 65 you’ll only be invited if one of your last three tests was abnormal. You then book an appointment with your general practice nurse or sexual health clinic for a test. Cervical cancer is not one of the most common cancers, but it is common in young women, usually affecting those in their early 30s. Once you have cervical cancer, treatment can be difficult and threaten your fertility and your overall health. But it's considered 99.8% preventable, so it's worth keeping up with your cervical screening.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK and every year 55,000 women are diagnosed with it. Currently the process involved screening and then only once, diagnosed they are treated. Unfortunately, around 11,500 will die from the disease every year and the vast majority of cases of breast cancer are diagnosed after the age of 50. One of the most common treatments used in breast cancer is called anastrozole – a hormone that is given as a daily tablet. This is because some breast cancers need the hormone oestrogen to grow, and an enzyme called 'aromatase' is needed for this change to occur. Anastrozole works by blocking (inhibiting) this enzyme, which in turn reduces the amount of oestrogen in your body, which slows the growth of breast cancer cells. Under new plans just announced by the NHS, up to 300,000 women who are said to be at moderate or high risk of developing breast cancer will now be offered anastrozole as a preventive treatment in order to reduce their risk of breast cancer occurring in the first place. It has been estimated that if this roll-out is taken up in full, it could prevent 8,000 cases of breast cancer among women currently in their 50s and 60s if taken for a full 5-year course. Anastrozole has been licensed for the treatment of breast cancer since 2006, but until now has not been licensed as a preventive treatment. Who is eligible for anastrozole for the prevention of breast cancer? Any post-menopausal woman with a mother or sister diagnosed with the disease before the age of 40, or those with two close relatives with breast cancer at any age, are encouraged to come forward to their doctor for assessment. If suitable, their GP is able to prescribe anastrozole. Women have a one in seven chance of developing breast cancer but are said to be at moderate risk if this increases to around one in six. Women are said to be at high risk if this increases further to at least one in three.

Leukaemia is a type of blood cancer. Although there are different blood cells (white cells, platelets, red blood cells), leukaemia generally refers to cancers that affect the white blood cells. White blood cells are essential to fight infections and build up your immune system. When the white cells don’t function as well, our immune defences become weakened and we are more susceptible to getting infections in the first place, and becoming more unwell from them. Leukaemia is fairly common among adults, with around 27 new cases each day in the UK. Age is a big factor, with those over 75 accounting for more than 4 in 10 cases. While not many children get cancer, leukaemia is one that frequently affects them – it behaves quite differently for them, so we’ll address that elsewhere.

Every woman in the UK is entitled to breast cancer screening. This starts from the age of 50, and continues up to your 71st birthday. You’ll be invited every three years by the local health authority, and they'll use your age and contact details from your doctor's records. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, and every 1 in 8 women is diagnosed in their lifetime. The risk grows with age, hence the screening starting at 50. It can occur in men, as they have breast tissue too, but it’s much more rare, so they are not included in the screening programme.

Everyone aged between 60 and 74 is invited automatically for bowel cancer screening. The local health authority will use your age and contact details in the GP records to send you a home test kit, which you send back to check for abnormalities. You’re then sent this kit every 2 years if you live in England. Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK. Early detection gives a good chance for treatment to work, and to help prevent the cancer spreading not only through the bowel but also to other parts of the body, which carries a risk of death. The chance of bowel increases as we get older, and the government is rolling out plans to start screening from 50 years old.