How this fits in

Speculum use is a significant barrier to cervical screening and can become particularly uncomfortable after the menopause. Self-sampling is an obvious solution but does not appeal to all women. Having a doctor or nurse take a sample without a speculum is another possibility, but test performance has not yet been examined. HPV testing on non-speculum clinician-taken samples was found to have comparable test performance with self-sampling, representing a promising new approach to cervical screening.