Cancer Screening (Hansard, 30 June 1987)

§ 1. Mr. Fatchett
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of cervical cancer screening machines in each of the English and Welsh district health authorities.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security (Mrs. Edwina Currie)
Cervical cancer screening requires only the simplest of equipment, which is readily available in all district health authorities.

§ Mr. Fatchett
Despite that comment by the junior Minister, is it not the case that, in most authorities, there is not an adequate system of call and recall for cervical cancer screening? The reality is that only one authority in five in England and Wales has that service. Is it not time for the Minister, instead of giving glib answers, to reassure men and women throughout the country that she is prepared to invest in a real service and to make the money available for a call and recall scheme for all women at risk?

§ Mrs. Currie
The call and recall system is not in itself a screening system, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman realises. I am also aware that in his own city, Leeds, progress is being made to introduce a full computerised call and recall system. The family practitioner committee is currently computerising its register as the first stage. Until then, a manual system is in operation for recall, which is achieving a commendable 80 per cent. response.

§ Dame Jill Knight
Has my hon. Friend any knowledge of when it may be possible to offer regular cancer cervical tests for all women who are calculated by the medical profession now to be at risk?

§ Mrs. Currie
It is possible now to offer regular testing, and we recommend that women between 20 and 65 should come in and be tested on a regular basis. The dispute is not about the screening system that is available now. It is about the computerised call and recall systems, and we expect that all health authorities will meet their target of next spring.

§ Mrs. Clwyd
Does the Minister realise that several hundred women in Liverpool have had to be recalled, 358 either for hospital treatment or for further tests, because of errors in analysis? What assurances can she give women throughout the country that tests of this kind are accurate? Does she have faith in the present system, or does she believe that these errors can be eliminated in some way or other?

§ Mrs. Currie
Yes. I, like many millions of women, have complete faith in the present system. The problems in Liverpool, as the hon. Lady knows, are the subject of an inquiry.

§ Mr. Conway
I congratulate my hon. Friend on the substantial progress that the Government have made in this area, but may I draw her attention to the length of time it has taken, particularly in the county of Shropshire, for people who undergo the examination to get the results of the tests? I have a letter from a constituent in the Bayston Hill area of Shrewsbury who has been waiting since January, and we are now in the last day of June. That is quite long enough to wait.

§ Mrs. Currie
It gives me no pleasure whatever to confirm that the waiting time in Shropshire is the worst in the country. I hope that my hon. Friend will add these remarks to those made during last night's Adjournment debate in his further discussions with the local health authority.

§ Mr. Dobson
Will the Minister tell us when the 56 health authorities that promised to bring in call and recall schemes by 30 March, but failed to do so, will do so?

§ Mrs. Currie
The advice that we have received, which we have confirmed once again this week, is that all health authorities expect to have their computerised call and recall systems up and running by next spring. I reiterate that if the hon. Gentleman wants to assist women who might at some stage suffer from cervical cancer he should encourage those who have never been tested to come in for a test. They do not have to wait until they get a computerised piece of paper. The test is available now.