Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure equity of access to breast screenings for women living in deprived areas when timed appointments are replaced with open invitations.

Breast screening services have a responsibility to reduce health inequalities. Local services have been able to choose whether to implement open appointments or maintain fixed timed appointments as they work to restore appointments following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This choice takes into account the needs of the local population: the service must evidence that their given approach better supports the recovery of appointments as well as ensuring equity of access.