Doctors in Wandsworth have seen an increase in the uptake of cervical smear tests thanks to the “Jade Goody effect”, one GP said this week.

The theory - which claims the number of women taking smear tests has increased since the Big Brother star’s cervical cancer diagnosis - is believed by some medical experts to be responsible for a 20 per cent increase in smear tests throughout the UK in recent months.

GP Jane Duckenfield, who practices at Earlsfield's Brocklebank Health Centre, believes the celebrity’s illness is responsible for strange patterns of activity within her own surgery.

She told the Wandsworth Guardian she has seen a sudden a sudden influx of women requesting smear tests since last August - when Jade was first diagnosed.

She also believes it is responsible for a rise in patients’ anxiety levels of the disease, with more women requesting abnormal results and calling in to check when there last test was, according to Dr Duckenfield.

Statistics show about 3,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, but the chances of survival are far higher if it is detected early.