§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what factors explain the(a) fall in the total amount and (b) fall in the percentage of the total budget of the money spent by his Department under the national health service breast screening programme on screening women aged 65 years and over between 1993–94 and 1994–95. [31883]
§ Mr. HoramUnder the national health service breast screening programme, women aged 65 and over are not invited routinely for screening. However, some women who should be screened at 64 may not in fact be invited for screening until they have reached the age of 65. There was a fall in the number of these women invited for screening between 1993–94 and 1994–95, provisional figures. A factor which may explain the fall in 1994–95 is that more women of 64 were screened on schedule before they reached their 65th birthday.
Women aged 65 and over may continue to be screened every three years on request. The number of women requesting screening remained constant between 1993–94 and 1994–95.