§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if his Department has estimated the number of new medical laboratory scientific officers who will be needed to deal with the extra work load created by the planned three-year recall cervical cytology programme.
§ Mrs. CurrieIt is for the individual health authorities to estimate the type and number of staff they need in the light of their local arrangements for laboratory examination of cervical smears.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many pathology laboratories in England and Wales undertake the processing of cervical cancer smears within the National Health Service; how many of these laboratories are equipped with a computer to assist them 267W in the processing of smears; and how many of the laboratories have a computer linked directly with the FPC computer which issued the initial call.
§ Mrs. CurrieA total of 214 pathology laboratories in the National Health Service in England and Wales processed cervical smears in 1986. Information on the number of laboratories equipped with a computer and how many have computers linked with the family practitioner committee computer is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services which district health authorities are using private laboratories to process cervical cancer smears; and which companies are being used.
§ Mrs. CurrieIt is for health authorities to decide how to obtain satisfactory processing of cervical smear tests. Some health authorities have sent cervical smears to private laboratories, particularly where backlogs arose following the sharp increase in the number of smears taken in the last two years. Comprehensive information on which district health authorities use private laboratories, and which companies are used, is not collected centrally.