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Mr. Dobson
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the largest current delay in each health region known to his Department in providing cervical smears through pathology laboratories.
Mrs. Currie
[pursuant to her reply, 5 May 1987, c. 380]: The latest information available centrally was provided to the Department in February, when 157 districts in England reported that their laboratories examining cervical smears were meeting our target of holding no more than one month's work. The longest delay in each region known to the Department is set out in the table.
| Longest laboratory delay in processing cervical smears in each region as at 16 February 1987 | ||
| (or 31 December 1986 where indicated) | ||
| Region | District | Delay weeks |
| Northern | Newcastle | 12/13 |
| Yorkshire (31 December 1986) | Scunthorpe | 4 |
| Trent | Nottingham | 13 |
| East Anglian | Cambridge | 6 |
| North West Thames (31 December 1986) | Barnet | 7/9 |
| North East Thames (31 December 1986) | Bloomsbury | 8 |
| South East Thames | Dartford and Gravesham | 11 |
| South West Thames | South West Surrey | 3 |
| Wessex | Bath | 3 |
| Oxford | Oxfordshire | 11 |
| South Western (31 December 1986) | Plymouth | 8 |
| West Midlands | Worcester | 8 |
| Mersey | Wirral | 5 |
| North Western (31 December 1986) | Bury | 3 |