§ Mr. Maurice Macmillanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimates he has made of the demand for cervical cancer smear tests.
§ Mr. EnnalsPriority is at present given to the testing at five yearly intervals of women aged 35 years and over, as it is in this group that the yield of prevention is likely to be greatest. 702,950 women were tested in the six months ending 30th June 1968, an annual rate of 1,405,900. There is evidence that the facilities available are not everywhere being used to capacity and hospital authorities have recently been asked to make further efforts to persuade more women of 35 and over to be tested.
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§ Mr. Maurice Macmillanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his estimate of the cost of extending the provision of cervical cancer smear tests for women under 35 years of age;
(2) what is the present cost of the cervical cancer smear test services.
§ Mr. EnnalsI regret that the information is not available. These services form part of the services provided by hospital authorities, local health authorities and general practitioners, and are not costed separately. Nor is it possible to forecast the response to an extension of the service.