Written question asked by Vincent Cable (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 3 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 November 2003. It was answered by Melanie Johnson (Labour) on Monday, 17 November 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of smear tests in England and Wales resulted in women being recalled as a result of inadequate smears in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. - Inc table.

Answer: Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of smear tests in England and Wales resulted in women being recalled as a result of inadequate smears in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [136875] Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of inadequate smears that resulted in women being recalled are shown in the table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Screening year Number of inadequate smears 1998-99 364,116 1999-2000 379,501 2000-01 359,441 2001-02 367,329 2002-03 357,707 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. On 22 October, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence recommended that liquid based cytology (LBC) should be introduced across the cervical screening programme in England. LBC is a new method of preparing cervical samples for examination and reduces the likelihood of an inadequate test from one in 10 to one in 100. The Government welcomed the recommendations, which mean that approximately 300,000 women a year will not need to be recalled.

Secondary information