§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what consideration he is giving to the introduction of a wider range of screening services and regular check-ups within health education programmes.
§ Mr. John PattenA range of specialised screening services is provided by the National Health Service for those identified as being at risk. This includes ante-natal screening, screening of newborn babies and cervical cytology screening. Research is underway in a number of areas to evaluate screening programmes to detect other conditions, such as breast cancer and hypertension. There is no evidence to suggest that general health screening of the whole population would be an efficient means of detecting disease.