Broughton Asda manager persuades bosses to allow female staff time off for cervical cancer screening

A department store manager has honoured the memory of his late mother by persuading top bosses at his company to back the Time to Test campaign against cervical cancer.

Graham Thomas, manager at the Asda Living store at Broughton Retail Park, lost his mum Roberta to cervical cancer in 2006 and has since dedicated his efforts to try to help others through early-detection screening, which is the aim of the Time to Test charity.

He wrote to Asda’s senior vice president of people, Hayley Tatum, to ask her to look at the campaign, which has found that women find it hard to take time off work to make an appointment for a screening.

Hayley was inspired by Graham’s story and has not only signed the retailer up to support the Time to Test campaign, but has introduced a clear section into Asda’s leave policy that highlights flexibility of leave to attend all forms of health screening appointment.

Graham, who lives in Holywell, said: “I can’t thank Hayley enough for responding to this campaign.

“It is vital that we make testing a priority for women in the UK; it’s one of the biggest risk factors for developing cervical cancer.

“Getting tested could save one of our colleagues’ lives and it might have saved my mum’s too.

“Yet I can now celebrate the fact that her experience has led to this positive opportunity for others to feel that they can take the time for a screening, which is vitally important to the health and wellbeing of our female colleagues.”

Ms Tatum added: “Graham’s letter struck a chord with me as the health of our colleagues is a top priority, which is why we’ve taken action to ensure that they have flexibility to attend vital screening appointments during working hours.

“By highlighting this flexibility we hope to raise awareness and encourage colleagues to put their own health first.

“It’s easy to put appointments off when life gets busy, but the message we’re sending out is loud and clear – health screenings can save lives and should take precedence.

“As part of our awareness drive we have signed up the ‘Time to Test’ campaign focusing on cervical health for women, and are committed to working with all our colleagues to support them in making time for all essential health screenings.”