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# England's cervical screening deprivation gap widened from 4.9 to 7.4 points
- URL: https://www.coios.me/england-s-cervical-screening-deprivation-gap-widened-from-4/
- Published: 2026-10-03T13:15:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-03T17:28:03.000Z
- Description: Linking 2024 general-practice cervical screening coverage in England to area deprivation gave 73.5% coverage in the most affluent areas against 66.1% in the most deprived, a 7.4 percentage point gap compared with 4.9 points in 2012, with overall coverage lower than a decade ago.
- Author: Daniel Ryan
- Tags: Healthcare today, Cancer, Health funding and inequalities, What linked data reveals, United Kingdom, #peer-reviewed, #refines, #item, #source-2026-09

General-practice-level cervical screening coverage data for England in 2024 were linked to the area-level index of multiple deprivation and compared with an equivalent 2012 linkage. Coverage was 73.5% in the least deprived areas and 66.1% in the most deprived, a gap of 7.4 percentage points against 4.9 points twelve years earlier. Overall coverage has fallen over the decade, so the inequality has widened against a declining baseline.

*Why it is interesting: The deprivation gradient in coverage of a national screening programme has widened while coverage overall has fallen, set against inequality targets in the 2026 National Cancer Plan.*

Source

[Journal of Medical Screening, 30 September 2026](https://doi.org/10.1177/09691413261484526?ref=coios.me)

DOI

10.1177/09691413261484526

Type

Peer-reviewed article

Design

Ecological analysis linking 2024 general-practice-level cervical screening coverage in England to area-level index of multiple deprivation, compared with a 2012 linkage

Verdict

Refines prior evidence

Driver

[Cancer](https://www.coios.me/d-cancer/)

Driver

[Health funding and inequalities](https://www.coios.me/d-health-inequality/)

Driver

[What linked data reveals](https://www.coios.me/d-linked-data/)