§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether his Department has any plans to issue guidelines on the use of ultrasound scanners on pregnant women;
(2) whether his Department will issue guidelines to ensure that the levels of ultrasound exposure experienced by pregnant women will be recorded and available for future research;
(3) whether, in the light of the recent decision by the Danish Minister of Health to forbid the use of ultrasound scanners for routine purposes, he has any intention of conducting an inquiry to establish both the safety and efficacy of the use of ultrasound scanners on pregnant women.
§ Mr. John PattenThe advice of the maternity services advisory committee is that all procedures and tests should be explained to each pregnant woman, who should be given the opportunity to decline them. Ministers have commended this advice to the NHS. As the use of ultrasound is a matter for clinical judgment, such tests should not therefore be performed as a matter of routine. I understand a working party of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is reviewing the question of the use of ultrasound in pregnancy, and, in the light of reports from other countries, we are currently considering very carefully whether there is a need for a wider review.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many ultrasound examinations on pregnant women are carried out each year;
(2) what percentage of women receive ultrasound scans during their pregnancies.
§ Mr. John PattenThe information is not available centrally.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any figures for the estimated cost of each individual ultrasound examination.
§ Mr. John PattenEstimates of the costs of providing ultrasound facilities were included in the report of the working group on screening for neural tube defects, which was issued to the NHS in December 1979. However, the use made of the scanners, and the time spent by staff operating them, vary between different centres, and realistic estimates cannot be made of the average cost of an individual ultrasound examination.