Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the time it will take to clear the breast screening backlog created by the covid-19 outbreak.
Although NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently unable to provide a time estimate, there has been good progress made in clearing the backlog of appointments caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of women waiting to receive a breast screening invitation has decreased from 468,548 women on 1 June 2020 to 32,518 women on 5 October 2020.
All local National Health Service breast screening services are operational and are working to ensure that those still waiting for an invitation will receive one as quickly as possible. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also made funding available to trusts to support the adaptation of mobile breast screening units in order to enhance their safe use and so maximise the number of units available to screen women.