§ Lord Molloyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many heart transplants have been carried out under the National Health Service and what are the total and average costs of heart transplant surgery.
§ Lord Cullen of AshbourneSince 1979, 40 heart transplant operations have been carried out under the National Health Service. A precise figure for the total cost of these operations is not available at present; the average cost of a heart transplant operation with a year's follow-up treatment has been estimated to be about £17,500. Much of the cost of the current heart370WA transplant programmes has been met from charitable donation; the Robinson Charitable Trust has donated £300,000 for heart transplant work at Papworth Hospital and the Harefield Hospital Heart Transplant Trust has raised over £320,000. The current programme at Papworth Hospital is intended to enable the medical profession, the Government and health authorities to assess over the next two or three years the place of heart transplantation in the treatment of certain forms of chronic heart disease and to evaluate more fully than is yet possible the resource implications and the effects on other services.
House adjourned at twelve minutes past eleven o'clock.