HC Deb 20 February 1990 vol 167 c718W
80. Miss Emma Nicholson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's policies on health care for women.

136. Mr. Moss

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what changes have been made in the provision of health care for women in the last 10 years.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

We are proud of our record on women's health. Government policies over the last 10 years have brought enormous improvements to the health and well-being of the women in this country.

We have implemented screening programmes for breast and cervical cancers to reduce the number of women who die each year from these diseases. Between 1978 and 1988 deaths from cervical cancer in England and Wales fell by 10 per cent. to under 2,000 women per annum and the death rate per million women aged 20 to 74 years fell by 16 per cent.

There have been great improvements in maternity care and a range of new services, such as prenatal screening for inherited genetic disorders, is widely available. Between 1979 and 1988 perinatal mortality in England fell from 14.6 to 8.7 per 1,000 births; between 1978 and 1938 the maternal death rate per 1,000 total births in England and Wales fell from 0.11 to 0.06.

Since 1986 one of the Ministers within the Department has taken a special responsibility for women's health. We regularly meet representatives from women's voluntary organisations and this year are helping to support over 30 such organisations by way of the section 64 scheme. The Department also funds research, study days and courses on different aspects of women's health.

Our proposals for the National Health Service of the future will also ensure that the choice of health care services available to women will be extended and that greater attention will be focused on the quality of this care.