Characteristics of women treated for cervical cancer at Westmead Hospital. Implications for hospital and community-based health services.

This study was conducted to assess the sociodemographic and histopathological characteristics of women presenting to Westmead Hospital with cervical cancer, and to assess the previous opportunities for Pap smear screening and prevention of this disease. This retrospective review of medical records was carried out in the Department of Gynaecological Oncology at Westmead Hospital, New South Wales, using the medical records of the first 33 women with cervical cancer referred to the newly enhanced Department of Gynaecological Oncology between March and June 1994. Twenty-three (70 per cent) presented with early-stage disease. Interpreters were required for five (16 per cent) patients. Only six women (18 per cent) had been screened for cervical cancer within the last two years and 14 (42 per cent) had never been screened. Many of these women had been attending general practitioners for the management of chronic medical conditions and two had undergone major cardiac surgery at Westmead within the previous two years. There are likely to be new and continuing demands for comprehensive health services for these women, including the use of medical facilities, interpreter services and complex psychosexual counselling. Further, lost opportunities to prevent cervical cancer warrant further study.