Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing tomosynthesis to digital mammography to improve the accuracy of breast screening.

Research is underway in the Prospective Trial of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis, carried out by Kings College Hospital NHS Trust in breast screening. This trial involves 100,000 women participating in screening to assess whether tomosynthesis is a useful addition to the routine breast screening programme. The United Kingdom National Screening Committee will review the results of the research expected to be published in 2024.

Tomosynthesis has been approved for use in the National Health Service breast screening programme as an optional extra tool in the assessment of screen detected soft tissue breast abnormalities, following the primary screen.