§ Dame Peggy FennerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what guidance has been given as to128W whether the proposals of the South East Thames regional health authority in respect of breast screening and assessment centres in the Medway comply with his Department's policy for identifying regional specialties;
(2) what is his policy on whether breast screening service and assessment centres should be a regional service or devolved to combined districts.
§ Mrs. CurrieThe Department's policy for implementing the breast cancer screening service is that regional health authorities should plan their services on a supra-district basis according to the model recommended in the Forrest report, a copy of which is in the Library. The model proposed basic screening units each serving a population of about half a million (equivalent to two average-sized districts) and specialist assessment teams each taking referrals from up to three of the basic units, in order to maintain very high standards for the assessment of the abnormalities detected by mammographic screening, particularly the very small impalpable lesions. Copies of the guidance circulated to health authorities and family practitioner committees (DA(87)14 and EL(88)P/48 ) have been placed in the Library.
Plans for the breast cancer screening services to cover the whole of the South-East Thames region have not yet been received in the Department.