Women who self-swab for HPV DNA after MBS criteria are relaxed next year will be allowed to perform the test at home, a leading cervical cancer screening expert says.

On Monday, Minister for Health Greg Hunt announced all women in the national screening program would be eligible for self-collection from 1 July 2022, scrapping current rules that limited vaginal self-swabbing to under-screened women.

It is a game-changing decision to boost screening participation, says Professor Marion Saville, the executive director of the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (formerly the VCS Foundation).

The details of how self-collection will work will be spelt out in education for doctors and patients, but she noted the term ‘self-collection’ may be causing confusion.