A Darlington dad who lost his daughter to cervical cancer has urged women to get screened after new figures revealed a fall in numbers attending screenings.

Paul Williams’ daughter Zoey Williams died aged 32 in May after losing a battle with terminal cancer.

Zoey, a mum-of-one, was diagnosed just months earlier in August 2022 with stage four, inoperable cervical cancer when she was just 31.

Her dad has issued a plea to others to attend their screenings as figures revealed a fall in the number of people being screened.

NHS stats show just 72.5% of more than 700,000 eligible 25 to 64-year-olds in the region were adequately screened as of March 31.

It was down slightly from 73.8% the year before, and well below the target of national 80% which has been missed for the 19th year in a row.

Leading charity Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust said it makes NHS England’s recently announced goal of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040 “challenging”.

The Northern Echo: Paul with daughter Zoey, who died in May.Paul with daughter Zoey, who died in May. (Image: Paul Williams)

Paul, a ska band frontman from Darlington, said: “For 30 seconds of embarrassment you can save your life. When you get your call up, go.

“There’s no reason against spending three minutes in a doctor’s office against a lifetime of regret.

“The possible outcome could be you lose your life.

“I wouldn’t want anybody to go through the aftermath we have. My grandson is growing up without his mother.”

A national decline in testing was primarily driven by a fall in 24 to 49-year-olds like Zoey being screened. This age group is invited for tests every three years.

Zoey believed she had undergone a cervical cancer screening just years before at the age of 27, however, it turns out this did not happen.

“She just thought, ‘I could have sworn I had had one’, but she was moving around so probably missed letters and for whatever reason never got round to rearranging it,” Paul added

“Life just got busy and at that age, which I can totally get, you think you’re sort of invincible.

“She started getting lower pain and thought it was something else. She had some blood tests and they came back quite alarming.

The Northern Echo: Zoey had to give up her job working in a bar after her diagnosis, and leaves behind 12-year-old son Mason.Zoey had to give up her job working in a bar after her diagnosis, and leaves behind 12-year-old son Mason. (Image: Paul Williams)

“They went from saying it was stage two to stage four in two weeks.

“She asked them ‘is this going to kill me?’ and they said the treatment was just to stop the pain.

“She stopped it and said she might as well live the best she could while she was still quite well.”

Martin Hunt, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, said: “We understand that it’s not an easy appointment for everyone. It can sometimes be difficult to attend for a variety of reasons including work and childcare commitments, anxiety, and misinformation surrounding the test.

“But these tests are vital; they can prevent cancer.”

The trust added it is ‘incredibly frustrating’ to see targets missed for the 19th year in a row.

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In every part of the North East testing coverage fell slightly compared to last year. More eligible people were tested in Northumberland (76%) than anywhere else in the region, with the fewest tests carried out in Middlesbrough (63.1%).

Steve Russell, from NHS England said eliminating cervical cancer in the next two decades is possible, but relies on millions of people coming forward for tests and vaccinations.

He added: “The NHS is doing everything we can to achieve our ambition by making it as easy as possible to make appointments, with the latest figures showing the NHS arranged cervical screening for over 3.4 million women last year.”