HC Deb 24 July 1991 vol 195 cc677-8W
Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will review the criteria for target payments to general practitioners so that such payments are made only if a deep pelvic examination is carried out at the same time as a cervical smear.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The target payments are intended to maximise the number of women patients of the relevant age groups being screened for cervical cancer. There are no plans to include other examinations, which are a matter of the doctor's clinical judgment, in the target payment arrangements.