HC Deb 05 March 1990 vol 168 c433W
Ms. Harman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which district health authorities the AFP test is routinely offered to pregnant women; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

This information is not collected centrally. However, a departmental survey conducted last year showed that the test was offered in about 60 per cent. of districts and was increasingly becoming available.

Ms. Harman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health in which district health authorities the ante-natal maternal serum screening test for Down's syndrome is routinely offered to pregnant women; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The use of maternal serum screening for Down's syndrome is a procedure under research at the medical college of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. I understand that the procedure offers early identification of about half the women with a Down's syndrome foetus who can then be offered amniocentesis for definitive diagnosis test. The test is not yet provided as part of routine antenatal care outside the City and Hackney health district, but some districts are referring women known to be at risk to St. Bartholomew's and a few other centres are starting trials of the procedure.