§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the possibility of the two-view mammographic screening programme for breast cancer being made available to all women. [131894]
§ Yvette CooperWe announced yesterday in the National Plan for the National Health Service that, in addition to extending routine invitations to women aged 65 to 70 within the NHS breast screening programme, the current service will also be upgraded by offering two view mammography at all screening rounds leading to an estimated improvement of some 40 per cent. in detection rates. We will roll out the programme to older women and introduce two-view mammography on a phased basis as sufficient staff become available to guarantee that the high quality of the current programme can be maintained.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if it is his policy to instruct health authorities which offer screening for breast cancer at intervals of less than three years to move to offering screening once every three years. [133394]
§ Yvette CooperThe current national policy is that the National Health Service breast screening programme offers screening once every three years to women aged 50 to 64. This frequency was recommended by the Forrest report, on which the programme was based. The Forrest report also recommended that this frequency must be kept under review, and results are awaited from the United Kingdom Co-ordinating Committee on Cancer Research's Frequency Trial.
There is no national policy to instruct health authorities which offer screening for breast cancer at intervals of less than three years to move to offering screening once every three years.
988WThe Government intend to publish a summary of the analysis of responses to the consultation exercise to Parliament in the autumn, and will set out the detail of its proposals in a White Paper to be published before Christmas.