HEALTH officials in the North-East have begun training to revolutionise the way women are screened for cervical cancer.

Over the next six months, the process will be phased in across the region improving the accuracy and speed of tests and boosting cancer prevention services.

Until now, the health service has relied on smear tests, where samples are taken from women and placed on a glass slide.

Often the samples are contaminated and the patient has to be recalled for another test.

A system being piloted in the North-East, called liquid-based cytology, provides a more accurate way of picking up cell changes that could develop into cancer.

Results can also be obtained in as little as a few days, compared to the current system, which can take up to six weeks.

The Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, is one of three pilot schemes in the country.

North-East regional cervical screening co-ordinator Lesley Greenwood said the region's laboratories would convert to the system over the coming months, and said that staff were undergoing training.

"The current system has an eight per cent inadequacy rate. The new process has been tested at just half a per cent which is a dramatic improvement for women and means they will hardly ever have to come back for a repeat test," she said.

Darlington Primary Care Trust's cervical screening advisor Karen Beedle, who is involved in the scheme, said: "We have a lot of education to get through, but I think it will be really good.

"It's the most exciting thing to happen to the screening programme and it is going to be so much better for women."