HC Deb 21 March 1989 vol 149 c893
3. Mr. Cash

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give an assessment of the results of the increasing use of private sector laboratory facilities within the National Health Service.

Mr. Mellor

Quality, speed and cost-effectiveness are the vital attributes of laboratory services, and access to private laboratory facilities widens the range of opportunities for health authorities to achieve these.

Mr. Cash

Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that facilities made available by private laboratories have greatly speeded up cervical investigations, and that such laboratories play a significant part in improving the opportunities available to patients?

Mr. Mellor

I am sure that my hon. Friend is right. There are 385 public sector pathology laboratories in the country, but they have been supplemented substantially by 150 private laboratories and more than 200 private screening centres. There is no doubt that those facilities play a considerable part in health care, and we hope that under the new arrangements in the NHS there will be a much closer interaction between laboratory services in the private and public sectors.

Mr. Loyden

What assurances can the Minister give that tests such as cervical smears will be properly monitored in the hands of private laboratories, and what influence will the Department have on the outcome?

Mr. Mellor

Before the Department or any district health authority allocates work to a laboratory it must satisfy itself that the laboratory is efficient. The hon. Gentleman may be aware that we are funding the national external quality assessment scheme, to which most public and many private laboratories subscribe and which is a way of ensuring appropriate quality.