HC Deb 02 May 1989 vol 152 c102W
Mr. Wray

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking urgently to review the system of cervical cancer smear tests so that no women whose tests have proved positive suffer delays of more than three to four weeks before starting treatment.

Mr. Mellor

Department of Health guidance, HC(88) 1, states that district health authorities should ensure that adequate facilities are available for the prompt investigation, treatment and follow-up of women whose smears show that this is necessary. In order to monitor health authorities' achievement in this respect we have asked them to notify us in their 1989 planning statements of waiting times for further diagnosis and treatment, particularly colposcopy, where these exceed four weeks. We shall then be pressing health authorities to take action where there are problems.

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