§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for every month in each of the last two years the district health authorities not meeting the one-month target for cervical cancer test turnround time; and if he will state the time taken in each of those authorities.
§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley[holding answer 12 June 1990]: Health authorities must aim to return the results of cervical smear tests to the doctor who undertook them within one month. Since December 1989 around 80 per cent. of districts have been meeting the target. A table of district health authorities not meeting this target over the past two years has been placed in the Library. The average processing times are shown in weeks. Since June 1988 this information has been collected on a quarterly rather than a monthly basis.