§ Mrs. Ray MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will list all the hospitals in Scotland which provide full facilities for the screening of breast cancer and the total number of patients screened for each year since 1979;
(2) what proportion of health service funds were spent on providing facilities for breast cancer screening for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Michael Forsythholding answer 18 January 1991]: Facilities for screening are not provided in hospitals but by a mix of seven static screening and assessment units and nine mobile screening units. The assessment units take the women who have been found to have a positive basic screen to the point of diagnosis. When a diagnosis demonstrates that treatment is required, the patient is referred to the hospital which has the most appropriate facilities for this treatment.
The total number of patients screened since the establishment of the breast screening service is as follows:
Number 1987–88 297 1988–89 3,953 1989–90 45,153 The Government have provided both revenue and capital funds centrally to establish the breast cancer screening service, as follows:
£ million 1987–88 0.5 1988–89 1.6 1989–90 4.7 1990–91 3.5