It’s one of those doctor’s visits that isn’t a whale of a time but has to be done – but it probably won’t be long before there’s no need to see a doc for a pap smear. The stats show the new self-collected cervical screening test is taking off with usage skyrocketing 25-fold since it became more widely available in mid-2022. It’s a big win for women’s health because it could mean no more ‘this might feel a little uncomfortable’ speculum examinations – a procedure that puts some women off if they’ve had a bad experience or cultural objections. And that’s a problem because about 70% of the 800 women diagnosed with cervical cancer in Australia each year have either never had a test or were overdue for one. Until 2017, most women needed to be screened every 2 years – but that changed with better technology to every 5 years for low-risk cases.