One in four women in Sunderland and across the UK ignore or delay potentially life-saving smear tests – often because of embarrassment.

These appointments are vital, however, because cervical screening prevents up to 75% of cervical cancers from developing – and saves an estimated 5,000 lives a year.

This week, as part of Cervical Screening Awareness Week, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust is calling for a greater range of appointment times at GP practices – to make it easier to access screening.

I fully support Cervical Screening Awareness Week and find it extremely concerning that one in four women across the UK do not attend screening appointments.

It really is important that we do more to make it easier for women to access appointments to improve the uptake of these potentially life-saving screenings.

The Government must make sure that a computer failure which left more than 12,000 North East women unchecked for signs of breast cancer will never happen again.

The error meant women were not called for a final mammogram before they turned 70.

In my constituency of Sunderland Central there were 135 women affected – which is shocking.

One in three people with long-term medical conditions have not collected their medicines due to prescription costs.

A great many patients also report missing doses to make their prescriptions last longer. This is just not acceptable.

Modern medical advances mean that the exemption list for NHS prescriptions is out of date. It is now time for a change.