Wiltshire health bosses are worried at the number of young women who fail to turn up at screening tests for the cancer that killed Jade Goody.

The TV celebrity died yesterday from from cervical cancer and NHS Wiltshire is urging women to attend screening appointments.

Around 4,500 women between 25 and 34 in Wiltshire are invited to a screening test each year.

While there is a good attendance rate among older women the response from younger women has proved disappointing.

Latest figures show that in the 25 to 29 age group 35 per cent of women did not attend a screening appointment while in the 30 to 34 age range 22 per cent failed to turn up.

The total number of non attenders in the 25 to 34 age group was 6,811 in the last five years.

Since 2005, six women a year on average have died of cervical cancer in Wiltshire.

Elizabeth Lee, consultant in public health at NHS Wiltshire, said: “In Wiltshire fewer young women are responding to their invitation to be screened and this is a group that we are concerned about because cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women under 35 years old.

“The cancer can be prevented by regular screening so not going for a smear test is one of the biggest risk factors for developing cervical cancer.

“If you are a woman between the ages of 25 and 64 you will be invited for a screen automatically. Although some women find the procedure slightly uncomfortable we urge you to accept your invitation to be screened and if you are invited for a second screen do not miss it.”

Overall two out of every 100 cancers diagnosed in women are cervical cancers and each year around 900 women in England die of the disease. Cancer Research UK estimate that regular screening can prevent about 75 per cent of cervical cancers from developing.