§ Audrey WiseTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what reply his Department sent to the letter of 5 November 1998 to its Chief Scientific Officer from Her Majesty's Coroner for Inner South District, Greater London, following an inquest into the death of a baby, asking that urgent consideration be given to the early introduction of statutory regulation of clinical perfusionists; [70173]
129W(2) what progress has been made (a) towards state registration of clinical perfusionists and (b) in dealing with the danger to the public posed by unaccredited perfusionists. [70172]
§ Mr. DenhamMy noble Friend the Baroness Hayman responded directly to Her Majesty's Coroner on 16 December 1998 indicating that we expect the employment of clinical perfusionists in the National Health Service to be confined to professionally accredited practitioners and are consulting the profession on the practical steps required to implement this effectively. We are also considering options for the regulation of the profession in the longer term.