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.