A NEW type of cervical screening test offering women a "higher detection rate" is being adopted by doctors in the area.

Liquid Based Cytology (LBC) uses a brush rather than a wooden spatula, with the cells then processed in liquid to make a thinner layer.

The technique is now being used by all GPs in north Kent and samples are being tested in Darent Valley Hospital, Darenth Wood Road, Dartford.

Kent and Medway Pathology Network is behind the new service and its director Peter Huntley says the new screening is great news for women.

He said: "The old way of doing a smear was to use a wooden spatula but the new LBC test uses a three-sided brush which is able to pick up more cells.

"The cells are put into a liquid and then put onto a screen to be tested.

"The labs can read the tests much more quickly, reducing the waiting time from about four weeks to a week.

"Women used to have to go back and forth to the GP when their tests showed up as inadequate.

"This was extremely worrying for them and caused them a lot of anxiety, but the LBC test cuts the amount of inadequate tests."

Mr Huntley added: "The screening tests for cells which are pre-cancerous and the LBC can catch a lot more cells offering women a higher detection rate.

"I think this is a huge step forward for the area."

There were more than 18,000 of the old-style tests a year in north Kent.

The new screening started on August 1.

Josephine Querido, cancer information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "LBC is good news for women.

"Because the cells are rinsed off into a vial instead of being smeared on a slide, they are better preserved.

"This means the results of the smear test are more reliable, so fewer women have to go through the anxiety of going back to the doctor's for another test."