THOUSANDS of women in Barrow, Ulverston and Millom are putting their lives at risk by failing to have a smear test done, new figures show.

GPs are trying to improve take-up rates as statistics show more than a quarter of eligible woman in Barrow, Walney, Askam, Kirkby, Millom and Ulverston have not had a cervical screening in the last three and-a-half years.

Screening rates are at their lowest for two decades which has been described as "concerning" by Public Health England (PHE).

A total of 220,000 British women are diagnosed with cervical abnormalities each year and there were 854 deaths from cervical cancer in England in 2016.

PHE publishes statistics for each GP surgery in a bid to encourage practices to ensure at least 80 per cent of women are having a smear test within the recommended timeframe.

Each surgery is then ranked in terms of the percentage of its female patients who attend a cervical screening.

Askam Surgery has one of the lowest take-up rates across all 37 surgeries in the Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group. Out of 37 GP practices it ranked 33/37 for women aged 25-49 and 37/37 for women aged 50-64.

At the Parklands Drive surgery 110 of 164 women in the lower age bracket (67 per cent) and 112 out of 158 in the higher age bracket (70/8 per cent) had a smear in the last 42 months.

Those at the other end of the table include Dr Johnston's practice in Ulverston, where 862 of 1,079 women in both age ranges had a smear in the last 42 months.

The Burnett Edgar Medical Centre on Walney was a strong performer in the higher age racket, ranking 3/37 with 294 out of 354 women aged 50-64 having a smear during the recommended timeframe.

The three biggest surgeries in Barrow all failed to hit the national target of 80 per cent.

At Bridgegate Medical Centre 1,015 of 1,367 women aged 25-49 (74.3 per cent) and 549 out of 764 women aged 50-64 (71.9 per cent) had a smear.

Norwood Medical Centre carried out cervical screening in 1,179 of 1,622 women aged 25-49 (72.7 per cent) and in 655 out of 910 women aged 50-64 (72 per cent).

Abbey Road Surgery screened 773 of 1,033 women aged 25-49 (74.8 per cent) and 549 of 712 women aged 50-64 (77.1 per cent) in the last 42 months.

Of the 14 surgeries in Barrow, Dalton, Askam, Millom, Kirkby and Ulverston, a total of 5,651 women aged between 25 and 64 failed to have a smear test in the last three and-a-half years.

Actress Michelle Keegan has highlighted the issue this week after sharing a video with her 3.7 million Instagram followers.

“So smear’s been done, I was in the room five minutes, on the bed for two, it was really quick, really easy. It wasn’t painful at all, just a little bit uncomfortable,” she said.

Cervical screening rates rose following the death of reality TV star Jade Goody at the age of 27 in 2009 but the numbers have fallen back since.