Question reference: S6W-01346
- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 9 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 July 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the level of uptake of (a) bowel, (b) breast and (c) cervical screening since its resumption compares with pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels.
Answer
Statistics for the cervical screening programme that will allow comparisons with pre-Covid-19 pandemic uptake are due to be published by Public Health Scotland on 1 September 2021.
Comparable data on national performance for uptake in the breast and bowel screening programmes that will allow comparisons between uptake before and after the COVID-19 pandemic will be made available in 2022. NHS National Services Division advise that recent uptake in the bowel screening programme is similar to pre-pandemic levels at around 67%. Breast screening uptake is measured on an annual and 3 year cycle with current indications that uptake is running at an average of 80% across the whole programme, which is higher than uptake prior to the pandemic.