HC Deb 20 January 1976 vol 903 cc451-2W
Mr. Reid

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the numbers of persons who have participated in the kidney donor card scheme for each year since the scheme's introduction in Scotland.

Mr. William Ross

Since 1972 some 750,000 kidney donor cards have been distributed, almost half of them in 1975. As card holders are not asked to notify my Department that they are potential donors it is not known how many people are participating in the scheme.

Mr. Reid

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a progress report on the Scottish poster campaign for the kidney donor card scheme.

Mr. William Ross

Since the poster campaign featuring the new Scottish kidney donor card was lauched in November 1975 some 8,000 posters have been distributed, mostly to health boards, local authorities, Government Departments and universities for display in public places including hospital waiting areas, health centres, general practitioners' surgeries, chemists' shops, local government offices, public libraries, universities and colleges of further education. The co-operation of some banks, firms of solicitors and voluntary bodies has also been secured. In the same period 133,250 donor cards have been distributed. A television publicity campaign has also been arranged. It is too soon to assess the effect of these measures, but the initial response has been encouraging.