WHEN Lorna Dhami turned her hand to performing smear examinations, she didn’t expect to become quite so passionate about the potentially life-saving screening test.

The move was initially made out of ease. Lorna’s husband was a GP in need of a practice nurse, and it suited their family life for the mum-of-three to make the switch from her role as a midwife.

Now, 28 years later, Lorna truly has seen it all – from nervous first-time patients to those with worrisome symptoms – which has armed her with an abundance of knowledge and tips to make the often-dreaded exam easier.

“The first thing I would say is: if you’re worried about it come in for a chat,” Lorna told the Glasgow Times.

“We can have a look at the different speculum sizes, talk about lubrication and go through the entire procedure before it happens. We can find different positions for comfort, as well.

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“If people are feeling really self-conscious, we can perform the exam with underwear on. Not many people realise that, but we don’t have to take pants off on most occasions.”

The target for smear tests is currently 80% uptake for all eligible people with cervixes. The national average is 68.7% with Glasgow falling behind at just 64.4%.

Statistics show deprivation, age and ethnicity all play a part in reducing the likelihood of women attending the vital appointment, which looks for the human papillomavirus (HPV) before it has the chance to develop into cervical cancer.

Lorna, who is based in Easterhouse Health Centre, has been looking for a way to buck that trend for almost 30 years.

She’s thrown her support behind the Glasgow Times Don’t Fear the Smear campaign which aims to tackle poor uptake as well as long wait times for follow-up appointments.

Lorna said: “I still love my job. Although my husband is retiring in a couple of months, I don’t know what I would do. I would feel there’s still a lot to be done.

“There was very much a target of 80% so there was your goal, but I used to wonder what happened to the other 20%? How can I increase it? And that made me look at who this 20% were.

“What was their ethnicity? Was there a correlation between their ethnicity? What was their age? It was harder then because we didn’t have the computer systems.”

In her work, she’s held various seminars and workshops in a bid to increase awareness around the exam and cervical cancer itself. Yet the question remains: how do we reach those who simply aren’t attending their smear tests?

“Why can’t we have drop-in sessions where you can just turn up if you know it’s due? Why can’t we have set places that you can attend just for a smear?” the practice nurse said.

“We’ve had drop-in sessions in the evening before which were successful but, the issue is, because the practice closes at 6.30pm I would have to pay for a private security guard to attend.

“People are busy, people are worried about taking time out of work. I think it would help if we could be more flexible.”

Charity Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust has urged employers to sign up for its Time to Test pledge which guarantees staff will be awarded time to attend smear exams.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde previously said it was doing all it could to improve uptake across the city and was constantly reviewing staffing levels as well as how to decrease wait times.