14 Jan 2008 : Column 986W—continued
14 Jan 2008 : Column 987W
Ann Keen:
The number of interval cancers in the national health service breast screening programme are not routinely collected.
Recent improvements in ensuring consistency in data collection have allowed for a major exercise to be undertaken between the NHS breast screening programme, the NHS cancer registries and the Cancer Screening Evaluation Unit at the Institute of Cancer Research to produce reliable national interval cancer figures for the first time. These figures will be published in 2008.
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. Data from NHS cancer screening programmes are monitored quarterly.
Mr. Lansley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health 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. [175136]
Ann Keen:
Data on the 36 month interval for breast cancer screening are collected quarterly by national health service cancer screening programmes. Data for England and each breast screening unit are provided in the following table. 38 month interval rates are also given as an indicator of how close intervals are to the national standard of 36 months.
| Breast screening unit | Percentage 36 month breast cancer screening interval rate—July to September 2007 | Percentage 38 month breast cancer screening interval rate—July to September 2007 |
|
England
|
70
|
88
|
|
Bolton
|
86
|
99
|
|
Chester
|
99
|
99
|
|
Crewe
|
96
|
99
|
|
East Lancashire
|
46
|
99
|
|
Greater Manchester
|
25
|
50
|
|
Liverpool
|
63
|
99
|
|
Macclesfield
|
62
|
100
|
|
North Cumbria
|
99
|
100
|
|
North Lancashire
|
10
|
11
|
|
Warrington
|
90
|
98
|
|
Wigan
|
32
|
67
|
|
Wirral
|
100
|
100
|
|
North Tees
|
53
|
64
|
|
Newcastle
|
90
|
95
|
|
Gateshead
|
97
|
100
|
|
Pennine
|
59
|
95
|
|
North Yorkshire
|
85
|
99
|
|
Leeds Wakefield
|
16
|
42
|
|
Humberside
|
8
|
12
|
|
Sheffield
|
53
|
97
|
|
Doncaster
|
99
|
100
|
|
Barnsley
|
99
|
100
|
|
Rotherham
|
84
|
99
|
|
North London
|
21
|
22
|
14 Jan 2008 : Column 988W
|
West of London
|
97
|
98
|
|
Barking and Havering
|
33
|
56
|
|
Central and East London
|
28
|
73
|
|
South East London
|
96
|
98
|
|
King's College London
|
78
|
99
|
|
South West London
|
88
|
99
|
|
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire
|
47
|
90
|
|
Chelmsford and Colchester
|
70
|
98
|
|
Cambridge and Huntingdon
|
40
|
98
|
|
Epping
|
1
|
1
|
|
East Suffolk
|
97
|
99
|
|
James Paget
|
57
|
92
|
|
King's Lynn
|
56
|
74
|
|
Norfolk and Norwich
|
68
|
97
|
|
Peterborough
|
78
|
98
|
|
South Essex
|
51
|
87
|
|
West Suffolk
|
79
|
97
|
|
City Hospital (Birmingham)
|
91
|
92
|
|
Dudley and Wolverhampton
|
98
|
99
|
|
Hereford and Worcester
|
73
|
99
|
|
North Staffordshire
|
99
|
100
|
|
Shropshire
|
45
|
96
|
|
South Birmingham
|
96
|
98
|
|
South Staffordshire
|
99
|
99
|
|
Walsall and Sandwell
|
99
|
100
|
|
Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry
|
99
|
100
|
|
Avon
|
74
|
96
|
|
Cornwall
|
96
|
98
|
|
Dorset
|
96
|
97
|
|
East Devon
|
81
|
97
|
|
Gloucestershire
|
98
|
99
|
|
Somerset
|
92
|
97
|
|
South Devon
|
97
|
98
|
|
West Devon
|
99
|
99
|
|
Wiltshire
|
89
|
99
|
|
Northampton
|
98
|
99
|
|
South Derbyshire
|
78
|
99
|
|
North Derbyshire
|
95
|
98
|
|
North Nottinghamshire
|
100
|
100
|
|
Kettering
|
99
|
100
|
|
Leicester
|
92
|
97
|
|
Lincolnshire
|
21
|
23
|
|
Nottingham
|
98
|
98
|
14 Jan 2008 : Column 989W
|
Jarvis Centre (Guildford)
|
95
|
98
|
|
West Sussex
|
48
|
84
|
|
Brighton
|
13
|
57
|
|
Canterbury
|
83
|
87
|
|
Maidstone
|
33
|
87
|
|
Medway
|
73
|
88
|
|
Aylesbury
|
100
|
100
|
|
Wycombe
|
100
|
100
|
|
Milton Keynes
|
99
|
100
|
|
Reading
|
83
|
95
|
|
Windsor
|
99
|
100
|
|
Oxford
|
17
|
99
|
|
North and Mid Hampshire
|
53
|
96
|
|
Southampton and Salisbury
|
24
|
84
|
|
Portsmouth
|
100
|
100
|
|
Isle of Wight
|
99
|
100
|
