Breast Cancer: Screening Mr. Lansley To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what proportion of eligible women were seen within the 36-month standard for breast cancer screenings (a) in England and (b) in each breast screening unit in the latest period for which figures are available; (2) what proportion of eligible women have been seen within the 36-month standard for breast cancer screenings in England in each year since 1997. Ms Rosie Winterton The proportion of eligible women seen within the 36-month standard for breast screening is not collected centrally. However, as a one-off exercise, national health service cancer screening programmes requested data from the NHS breast screening programme on the percentage of local screening units achieving the 36-month national standard between screens for quarter four 2005-06 (January to March 2006). It found that in England, 68 per cent. of women were re-screened within the 36-month national standard and the average wait between screens was 36 months. The following table shows the average round length and the percentage of women re-screened within 36 months of their previous screening for each breast screening unit in England. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Breast screening unit |Average round length (months)|Percentage of screenings within 36 months of previous screening| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North Yorkshire |34 |93 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Humberside |40 |29 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Pennine |36 |67 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Leeds Wakefield |37 |38 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Doncaster |33 |94 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Rotherham |35 |84 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Sheffield |35 |71 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Barnsley |35 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Nottingham |34 |90 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North Nottinghamshire |35 |91 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Lincolnshire |40 |33 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South Derbyshire |36 |80 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North Derbyshire |36 |49 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Kettering |32 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Northampton |33 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Leicester |35 |82 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire |39 |52 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Chelmsford and Colchester |38 |60 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South Essex |34 |73 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Epping |19 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |West Suffolk |33 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Norfolk and Norwich |37 |61 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Great Yarmouth and Waveney |36 |73 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Peterborough |35 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |King's Lynn |36 |92 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Cambridge and Huntingdon |37 |47 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |East Suffolk |34 |95 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South East London GCA 1 |35 |70 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South East London GCA 2 |35 |69 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North London EBA |35 |66 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South West London HWA |38 |44 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Barking Havering FBH |40 |28 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |West of London ECX |36 |46 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Central and East London FLO |35 |78 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Whipps Cross FWC |42 |7 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Newcastle |38 |50 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Gateshead |35 |71 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North Tees |36 |68 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bolton |38 |54 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Chester |32 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Crewe |35 |97 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |East Lancashire |35 |86 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Greater Manchester |42 |7 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Liverpool |36 |66 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Macclesfield |41 |21 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North Cumbria |35 |97 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North Lancashire |45 |11 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Warrington |35 |96 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Wigan |37 |56 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Wirral |35 |96 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Windsor |32 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |West Berkshire |35 |66 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Aylesbury |28 |100 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Milton Keynes |33 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Wycombe |27 |100 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Oxford |37 |74 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North and Mid Hampshire |34 |58 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Isle of Wight |33 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Southampton and Salisbury |36 |64 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Portsmouth |40 |11 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Worthing |40 |56 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Jarvis Centre, Guildford |33 |92 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brighton |34 |83 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Kent Programme |41 |30 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Avon |44 |18 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Gloucestershire |35 |84 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Wiltshire |35 |95 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Dorset |35 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Somerset |35 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Cornwall |34 |64 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |East Devon |45 |8 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South Devon |37 |82 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |West Devon |40 |26 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |City Hospital |35 |97 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Dudley and Wolverhampton |34 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Hereford and Worcester |33 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North Staffordshire |35 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Shropshire |39 |49 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South Birmingham |34 |98 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South Staffordshire |38 |71 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Walsall and Sandwell |34 |99 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry|34 |96 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NHS Cancer Plan, published in 2000, stated that we would extend invitations for breast screening to women aged 65 to 70 and introduce two-view mammography at all screening rounds. Thanks to the efforts of the staff in the screening programme, these targets have now been achieved in all local breast screening units. The expansion is already showing an effect, with nearly 12,000 cancers diagnosed by the programme in 2004-05, an increase of 40 per cent. on 2001 when the expansion began. However, the changes together represent a 40 per cent. increase in the workload of the programme. We are aware that this has had an impact on some services maintaining the three-year interval for screening and we are taking steps to bring all screening intervals back to three years. We take the issue of the 36-month standard between screens very seriously. That is why Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director, wrote to the chief executives of all 10 strategic health authorities in England on 9 February 2007 highlighting the importance of maintaining the 36-month interval.