WOMEN from Winsford and Middlewich who attend Leighton Hospital for cervical smear tests can now expect much shorter waiting times for their results.

Leighton, which is part of Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust, has announced that average waiting times have recently been cut by more than half to four weeks.

Staff shortages in the hospital's cervical screening laboratory had pushed the waiting time for test results to more than two months.

However, replacement staff have now been recruited, and South Cheshire Health Authority has injected £80,000 to fund four new jobs plus extra equipment for the lab.

And a further boost has been received with the news that CanSearch - a national charity which aims to promote awareness of cervical screening - has donated £3,500 to the hospital.

This money will go towards the cost of a computer-guided microscope to be used in staff training, which will improve the quality of service provided.

Dr Anne Nicol, consultant cytologist at Leighton's pathology labs, said: "We are very pleased to be reporting both an excellent improvement in our waiting times for smear test results, and the very kind donation from CanSearch, which has set us well on the way to acquiring the computer-guided microscope.

"Help from any other source towards the purchase of this equipment would, needless to say, be greatly appreciated."

The computer will cost £7,000, and the lab staff are hoping to raise a good slice of that from a sponsored walk along Cheshire's Sandstone Trail in October.

Local people are welcome to join the walk and help to raise funds for the equipment. For more information, contact Jean Briers, senior biomedical scientist, on 01270 255141 ext 2603.

Dr Nicol said: "Jean and I look forward to hearing from anybody with ideas to help us with our fund-raising, and from people who would like to sponsor us or join the trail walk in October."

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