§ Mr. Churchillasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what plans he has to make facilities available for the treatment of the two-thirds of all children with chronic renal failure to whom treatment is not now available;
(2) whether the Government plan to made available the £1½ million initial capital and £2 million per annum necessary to provide treatment for all children with chronic renal failure.
§ Dr. OwenIt is for health authorities to decide the rate at which they can introduce or expand renal dialysis services for children assessing priority of this claim on scarce resources as against those of other urgent developments, not all of which can be met as fully as they would wish. As regards transplants, the problem is shortage of donors rather than of498W resources. My Department introduced the kidney donor card scheme to enlist the help of the general public, but the key to achieving a greater number of transplants probably lies with securing still greater co-operation from those clinicians who have potential donors among their patients.