Women's lives are being needlessly put at risk in Barnet because too few are coming forward for cervical and breast cancer screening.

Government league tables released yesterday reveal the level of screening here is among the lowest in the country.

Less than one in six women in Finchley are screened for breast cancer and in Totteridge the rate is less than one in three.

Only 58 per cent of women aged 50 to 64 are screened for breast cancer by Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Health Authority the eighth lowest rate in the country. The average in England is 69 per cent.

The picture for cervical screening is just as bleak. Only 74 per cent of women aged 20 to 64 across the health authority are having smear tests the third worst performance in the country. The average in England is 83 per cent.

"Screening is potentially life-saving," said Andrew Burnett, director for health improvement at Barnet Primary Care Trust (PCT). "Not only can it save your life, it can reduce the severity of the disease. It can pick it up at a time when you can cure the disease or stop it progressing."

The national target for cervical screening is 80 per cent and for breast cancer screening is 70 per cent. It can be done by GPs or at family planning or well-women clinics.

Carole Furlong, co-ordinator of screening programmes for the health authority, said national targets had never been reached. "Breast cancer is the biggest killer among women it is vital that women attend for screening, she said. Your risk of cervical cancer can drop by a quarter by having a single smear test.

Last year 128 women in the UK died of cervical cancer and about half of all women who develop cervical cancer have never had a smear test," she said.

Mr Burnett did not attribute the poor attendance rates to the way the health authority promoted screening, saying some women didnt take the tests because of fear or, in some cases, cultural reasons.

For cervical and breast screening information call NHS Direct on 0845 4647. Alternatively call Edgware Hospital's Breast Screening Office on 020 8951 4045.