CERVICAL cancer screenings are to be offered more frequently to East Lancashire women in a bid to drive death rates down.

Every primary care trust in Lancashire and Cumbria will increase the cycle of checks from five years to three years in a bid to end the so-called postcode lottery of health care.

But women will only get their first test at the age of 25, rather than at the age of 20.

Health bosses said the changes reflected a shift in national guidance, adding that most health centres offered the tests more often than once every five years anyway.

The new changes will take effect from September 1, and women aged between 25 and 50 will be offered the test every three years, then every five years until the age of 65.

Elaine Michel, acting director of public health at Hyndburn and Ribble Valley PCT, said: "The new arrangements will mean women everywhere will benefit from the same programme."

Dr Mira Biswas, the lead doctor for cervical cytology at the East Lancashire Public Health Network, based in Accrington, said: "Data shows that 927 women in England died from cervical cancer in 2002, and 44 of those were living in Cumbria and Lancashire.

"Deaths in younger women are uncommon. Only one in 70 women who die of cervical cancer is under the age of 30."

The screening looks for changes in the cervix which may become cancerous within the next few years.