Written question asked by Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 5 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 8 December 2005. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 December 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Retinopathy Programmes

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to ensure the delivery of independent and external quality assurance of local retinopathy programmes.

Answer: [holding answer 8 December 2005]: Quality assurance is an integral part of all screening programmes. Quality assurance standards have been developed and piloted by the UK National Screening Committee's national screening programme for sight threatening retinopathy. A full list of the quality assurance standards can be found on the National Screening Programme's website at: www.nscretinopathy.org.uk. Screening programme managers are responsible for ensuring that programmes meet overall quality requirements. Strategic health authorities are responsible for ensuring action is taken on quality assurance recommendations.

Secondary information