§ Mr. Winnickasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what plans his Department has to encourage overall health checks in individual areas in the country; if he will state the names of those areas where this has already been carried out; and what conclusions have been reached by his Department on such health checks.
§ Mr. SnowRegular health checks are encouraged for groups at special risk, such as expectant mothers and babies. A joint sub-committee of the Standing Medical Advisory Committees for England and Wales and Scotland has been set up to review and report on screening in medical care and they will advise on the merits of health checks generally. Areas where we know that health checks of the kind my hon. Friend has in mind have been carried out are Darlington, Epsom and Ewell, Rotherham, Salford and Southwark. The Report of my Department's Social Science Research Unit on the 1966 Rotherham Screening Clinic will be published shortly.