§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of blood provision within the National Health Service. [108512]
§ Mr. DenhamProgressively over the last two years the blood service has become more integrated into the National Health Service, building a partnership to ensure a high standard of patient care. There has been steady recruitment of donors, an ongoing modernisation of donor services and a reliable supply of blood.
To ensure that there continues to be an adequate and safe supply of blood used effectively in first class transfusion practice, we required NHS trusts to ensure from March 1999 that hospital transfusion committees were in place to oversee all aspects of blood transfusion. We also required them to have agreed by March 2000 local transfusion protocols to ensure the safest and most effective use of blood and we will audit the outcome.