HC Deb 05 December 1986 vol 106 cc822-3W
Dr. Roger Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action his Department will take to seek to reduce mortality and morbidity through early detection of carcinoma of the cervix in women below the age of 35 years.

Mrs. Currie

All women who are or have been sexually active should be regularly screened for cervical cancer. Guidance to health authorities on the screening of women below the age of 35 was set out in HC(84)17, a copy of which is in the Library. The guidance is currently under review.

Dr. Roger Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action his Department will take to seek to reduce the mortality and morbility rate through early detection of carcinoma of the cervix in women between the ages of 50 and 60 years who are at greatest risk.

Mrs. Currie

Women between the ages of 50 and 60 are within the priority group on whom health authorities have been asked to put the main emphasis in their cervical cancer screening programmes. The Government are committed to cutting death rates from cervical cancer by improving the effectiveness of these programmes. In January this year all health authorities were required to give priority to improving their cervical cancer screening programmes, including implementing computerised call and recall systems. Our detailed guidance to health authorities is currently under review.

Dr. Roger Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now publish a statistical report on the medical and regional variations in the incidence of cervical cancer for the period 1974 to 1983.

Mrs. Currie

Information on the incidence of cancer, including cervical cancer, is published routinely in "Cancer Statistics: Registrations" series MB1 and in the Office of Population Censuses and SurveysMonitors series MB1. Data for 1983 were published on 27 November 1986, and a copy of "Cancer Statistics: Registrations 1983" may be found in the Library.

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