WHY is it that women in the Blackburn area have to wait an alarming six to eight weeks to hear the result of their vital cervical smear test?

We're constantly told early detection of cancer saves lives, yet this makes a mockery of cancer awareness.

The irony struck me as I, along with 1,500 other females of all ages and sizes, reached the finishing line of last week's 'Race For Life.' Here we have determined individuals doing their bit for cancer research and here we have a local health authority banging on about their new intensive care unit.

God forbid any one of us lands up in this new unit, but it looks quite possible with a health authority unable to recognise the early warning system for the dreaded big 'C.' How hypocritical. Heaven can wait -- we can't.

As I await the result of my test, I wonder how the powers-that-be would react if all we feisty Lancastrians out there decided to take them to task. It's a disgrace.

CAROL TAPP (Mrs), Stanford Gardens, Blackburn.

FOOTNOTE: Janice Atkinson, of the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust, said the target for dealing with cervical smear results is four weeks, but the trust's pathology department, which examines the smears, is not meeting that target at present. She said pathology departments nationwide were suffering from a shortage of trained pathologists and specialist technicians and there was a backlog of routine smear tests to be processed.

She said: "If the GP believes there may be an abnormality, it would be treated urgently and the results would be through much more quickly."