PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Breast Cancer: Screening (15 June 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his Written Ministerial Statement of 4 June 2018 on Breast Cancer Screening Update, HCWS731, and the figures contained in that statement, what criteria his Department used to determine which women would be contacted; and how many and what proportion of women who were not affected by the breast cancer screening computer failure were contacted by his Department.

Asked by:
Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Labour)

Initial analysis of records held by NHS Digital suggested that 195,568 women were registered with a general practitioner in England and had not been invited as expected for a breast screen between their 68th and 71st birthdays. These women were all sent a letter to alert them to the potential problem as soon as possible.

Subsequent analysis showed that 72,839 (37%) of them had received a screen or an invitation for a screen between their 68th and 71st birthday. The main reason for the discrepancy was that, in line with usual practice, women who move house are sent invitations to both addresses, while some had been invited before their 68th birthday but screened after it.

Answered by:
Steve Brine (Conservative)
25 June 2018