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To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she has (a) received and (b) considered the Report by the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances into the value of breast cancer screening of over 70s; and if she will make a statement.

Asked by

Lord Beith (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department of Health

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

20 March 2007

Reference

124971; 458 c848-9W

House

House of Commons

Diabetes

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will ensure that blood glucose testing strips are made available on NHS prescription for insulin-dependent diabetics in all areas.

Asked by

Lord Beith (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department of Health

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

8 January 2007

Reference

108977; 455 c31W;455 c30W

House

House of Commons

Breast Cancer

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what change there has been in the time taken to produce genetic testing results for breast cancer (a) in England and (b) in Northumberland since 2004; and whether the plan to clear the backlog of results from 2004 by February 2007 includes...

Asked by

Lord Beith (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department of Health

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

2 November 2006

For answer on

6 November 2006

Answered on

7 November 2006

The Department does not collect data centrally on waiting times for genetic tests for inherited forms of breast cancer.However, the Government recognise that some patients have experienced long waits for genetic tests in the past and this will have caused stress and anxiety. This is unacceptable.To improve access and cut waiting times, the genetics White Paper Our Inheritance, Our Future—realising the potential of genetics in the national health service, published in June 2003, committed up to £18 million for NHS genetics laboratories in England. This major investment is boosting capacity and supporting modernisation in genetics laboratories, thus helping them meet the rising demand for genetic tests.To ensure that this investment resulted in real patient benefit, the White Paper set out new standards for genetic test turn around times, to be achieved by the end of 2006. These are:"Within three days where the result is needed urgently, for example, for prenatal diagnosis;""within two weeks where the potential genetic mutation is already known, for example, because another family member has already been tested; and within eight weeks for unknown mutations in a large gene."This money was allocated during the last two financial years (2004-06), and laboratories are working hard to get their new facilities up to speed to meet these standards.We are monitoring molecular genetics laboratories’ progress through the commissioners of genetic services. The laboratories in two of the eight Specialised Commissioning Group areas are already meeting these standards for new referrals of genetic tests for breast cancer. Five of the rest are on track to achieve them by the end of 2006 and the remaining one by early 2007.Genetic services have drawn up plans locally to deal with backlogs, which for a number of reasons vary in size and nature between centres. Their rate of progress has also depended on the timescale for getting new equipment and processes operational. All areas are working to clear backlogs as quickly as possible.The plans to clear backlogs for the laboratory providing the service for Northumberland include samples referred for testing in 2005, and in 2006 prior to the additional capacity becoming available. The laboratory originally anticipated clearing all backlogs by February 2007. However current staff shortages and a greater than anticipated rise in demand for genetic testing services mean that the date for clearing all of the backlog is likely to slip to later in 2007.

Date

7 November 2006

Reference

100050; 451 c1265-6W

House

House of Commons

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