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Support getting an appointment

Screening Support Services (SSS) can help eligible people get appointments. If you are eligible you can be referred to, or directly request assistance from, an SSS provider.

Eligible people include:

  • Māori and Pacific wāhine or whānau aged 25 to 69, and
  • anyone aged between 30 and 69 who has never had a cervical screen or has not had a cervical screen in the last 5 years.

Some SSS providers have mobile teams who make community and home visits, while others are based in clinics around the motu. The teams are a mixture of clinical and non-clinical staff, inclusive of kaiāwhina/kaimahi (support staff)

Find out more about SSS and where to access their services.

Screening Support Services — National Screening Unit (external link)

Cost of cervical screening

The National Cervical Screening Programme is not fully funded. 

Screening tests that are funded

Free routine cervical screening, regardless of whether an HPV test or cytology is used, is available if you are: 

  • aged 30 years and over and have never been screened
  • aged 70 to 74 years and have never been screened 
  • aged 30 years and over and it has been 5 years or more since your last cytology, or 7 years or more since your last HPV test
  • aged 70 to 74 years and have not had 2 consecutive normal cervical cytology results between 62 to 69 years, or a 'HPV' not detected' result in the 5 years prior to age 70
  • Māori and Pacific wāhine aged 25 to 69 years
  • aged 25 to 69 and hold a Community Services Card. 

Follow up tests that are funded

Follow up testing is free for everyone regardless of their eligibility for free routine screening. 

  • All recommended HPV and cytology follow up testing after 'HPV' other detected (until returned to routine screening or while at colposcopy).
  • People who have not yet been returned to routine interval screening (before the HPV primary screening programme began on 12 September 2023) and require follow up testing, for example early repeat screening after a previous low grade cytology result. 
  • Repeat screening after an 'invalid' or 'unsuitable for analysis' result, or an unsatisfactory cytology sample. 
  • Test of Cure, including those eligible for a Test of Cure because of historical high grade result. 
  • Annual co-testing (for life) because of the history of a previous HPV-negative high grade cervical or vaginal lesion, or a history of adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) where the HPV status before treatment is unknown.