§ Mr. CummingsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the average period of time from testing and screening of women for(a) cervical cancer, and (b) breast cancer until the results are known in the Sunderland, Durham and Hartlepool area health authorities; and what is the comparable figure for the rest of the country;
(2) what is the average period of waiting for patients who are to receive radio therapy from the time of the results of the breast screening test and treatment in the Durham, Sunderland and Hartlepool area health authorities, and what is the comparable figure for the rest of the country.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyInformation on the processing of cervical screening tests is not available in the form requested. Our guidance to health authorities states that laboratories must aim to send results to the doctor who submitted a smear within one month of receiving it. Laboratory processing times are monitored by the Department on a quarterly basis. The information collected relates only to those district health authorities (DHAs) which are failing to meet this one month target time. As at September 1989 (the latest data available) over 75 per cent. of DHAs were meeting this target. Laboratories in South West Durham and Hartlepool DHAs were taking eight and six weeks respectively to report on smears. I understand, however, that the December return is expected to show an improvement.
Information on the average time taken to notify women of the result of their screening test and of waiting for radiotherapy treatment under the breast screening programme is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. BeggsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will encourage his Department to initiate a call and re-call scheme for women of 40-plus years to test for ovarian cancer.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyIt has yet to be demonstrated that such a scheme would lead to a reduction in mortality. The Department will keep this matter under review.
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§ Mr. CummingsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what resources are being made available to the Northern regional health authority to provide a mass mammogram screening service in the North-East.
§ Mr. FreemanNorthern regional health authority has received a total of £3,618,000 over the years 1987–88 to 1989–90 to introduce and run breast cancer screening by mammography. This represents both capital and revenue allocations. Additional revenue allocated recurrently in each of these three years was built into the authority's baseline for subsequent years. At the end of the three year implementation period the amount now built into the region's baseline is £1,531,000 at 1989–90 prices.
§ Mr. CummingsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that all women in the Northern region are invited to attend specialist breast screening units; what call and re-call systems have been set up on the Northern region to date; and in what respects these re-call systems are different from those in the rest of the country.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyArrangements for inviting women age 50–64 in the Northern regional health authority (RHA) to attend for screening under the National Health Service breast screening programme are similar to those used elsewhere in the country: women in this age group who are registered with a general practitioner will be invited, using the national computer system, for a screening test every three years. Northern RHA has also financed health education programmes, public information and publicity through a variety of media to encourage women in its region to take up their screening invitations.
§ Mr. CummingsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans to provide a mobile breast and cervical screening unit in the Durham, Sunderland and Hartlepool area health authorities; and if he will list the locations in the United Kingdom where such mobile units are operating.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe decision to use mobile units to deliver the National Health Service breast screening service for women aged 50 to 64 years is a matter for regional health authorities to determine.
I understand that women in Sunderland will be invited to attend a static unit located at the Sunderland general hospital and that mobile units will be used to provide the service to women in Durham and Hartlepool. If the hon. Member requires any further information about the breast screening service in the Northern regional health authority he might contact Ms. Barbara Howe, the region's programme co-ordinator.
The table lists the district health authorities in England where mobile units are either in use or planned as part of those screening programmes operational as at 13 November 1989. A further 31 screening programmes are expected to become operational by March 1990 a number of which are expected to use mobile units.
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Mobile screening units serving district health authorities as part of those screening programmes operational as at 13 November 1989 Screening programme District Northern Gateshead Durham South Tyneside 622W
Screening programme District Newcastle Newcastle North Tyneside Northumberland North West Durham Yorkshire Huddersfield Calderdale Dewsbury Huddersfield Hull Hull East Yorkshire Grimsby Scunthorpe York York Scarborough Northallerton Trent Nottingham Bassetlaw Leicester Leicestershire Sleaford North Lincolnshire South Lincolnshire East Anglian Kings Lynn West Norfolk and Wisbech Ipswich East Suffolk West Suffolk Great Yarmouth and Waveney (part) Peterborough Peterborough Norfolk Norwich Great Yarmouth and Waveney (remainder) North West Thames None North East Thames Epping Redbridge Colchester Mid-Essex Leytonstone (Whipps Cross) Waltham Forest South East Thames Canterbury Canterbury and Thanet Lewes Brighton South West Thames Guildford Mid-Surrey North West Surrey South West Surrey West Surrey and North East Hampshire East Surrey Worthing Worthing Chichester Mid-Downs Wessex Southampton Salisbury Portsmouth Portsmouth and South East Hampshire (part) Oxford Aylesbury Aylesbury Vale Northampton Northampton High Wycombe Wycombe Milton Keynes Milton Keynes South Western Truro Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Bristol Southmead Plymouth Plymouth North Devon West Midlands Stoke-on-Trent Mid Staffordshire South East Staffordshire Coventry Rugby South Warwickshire
Screening programme District Solihull Dudley Dudley Wolverhampton Walsall Walsall Sandwell Birmingham North Birmingham East Birmingham West Birmingham Mersey None North Western Manchester North Manchester Central Manchester South Manchester Screening of women aged 20 to 64 for cervical cancer is performed by general practitioners or at NHS clinics.
Information on the services in the other parts of the United Kingdom is the responsibility of my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Northern Ireland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.