§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a statement on the effect of not paying certain benefits and allowances to disabled and elderly people, if they have been briefly absent abroad on holiday.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisI have written to my hon. Friend explaining that most benefits, pensions and allowances remain payable through brief holiday absences abroad.
Region Patients on Dialysis 30th June 1975 per million population Kidney transplants year ended 30th June 1975 per million population Patients starting Dialysis—Year ended 30th June 1975 per million population Northern. … … … 46 19 22 Yorkshire … … … 34 6 14 Trent … … … 35 8 15 East Anglia … … … 28 21 19 North-West Thames … … … 48 14 22 North-East Thames* … … … 85 13 17 South-East Thames … … … 62 31 29 South-West Thames† … … … 11 — 4 Wessex … … … 21 6 10 Oxford … … … 63 4 10 South-Western … … … 43 5 22 West Midlands … … … 22 12 8 Mersey … … … 27 12 9 North-Western … … … 25 6 8 England … … … 39 11 15 *Including St. Paul's Post-Graduate Hospital. †Many patients resident in the South-West Thames Region are treated in neighbouring regions. Various estimates of the need for treatment for chronic renal failure exist, hut in 1972 a Joint Committee of the Royal Colleges estimated that between 23–39 patients per million population per year, with an upper age limit of 55–60, might benefit from treatment by regular dialysis and/or transplantation. More recently the medical criteria for regarding patients as suitable for treatment have widened, thereby increasing the potential demand. As few patients are given transplants without previously being dialysed, the extent to which the current need is being met may best be assessed from the final column of the table, showing patients starting on dialysis during the year. In general those patients between the ages of 15 and 45 who are suitable for dialysis can be offered treatment.
The extent to which facilities for dialysis can be increased is for health