§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the average time that patients wait for the results of cervical smear tests in(a) Britain, (b) Scotland and (c) each of the health board areas; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythFigures are not available on a Great Britain basis. The average time taken to report results to patients across Scotland for the latest figures available (January to June 1990) was 30 days.
Information for each health board is as follows:
Health Board Average time in days Argyll and Clyde 31 Ayr and Arran 21 Borders 21 Dumfries and Galloway 3 Fife 33 Forth Valley 29 Grampian 77 Greater Glasgow 14–7 228 Highland 32 Lanarkshire 35 Lothian 15 Orkney 3— Shetland 48 Tayside 14 Western Isles 4— 1 high risk 2 low risk 3 Tests processed by Grampian HB Separate figures not readily available 4 Tests processed by Highland HB Separate figures not readily available
I regard those averages of more than 14 days as unacceptable and I instructed health boards on 13 December 1990 to achieve this average turnround time for all results by no later than 31 May 1991. Boards have already indicated that they are making progress towards this and the position will be monitored.