§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of kidney machines available to the National Health Service.
§ Mr. MoylePrecise details of the numbers of dialysis machines are not available centrally, but the number used in the treatment of chronic renal failure equates broadly with the number of beds available for that purpose, with some machines held in reserve. The number of beds in hospital haemodialysis units in England at 30th June 1976 was 398. At the same date there were approximately 1,373 patients in England being treated at home, each of whom had their own machine.
§ Mr. Stephen Rossasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will publish a table of comparisons showing how many kidney machines are available per head of population in each of the EEC countries, the United States of America and Canada.
§ Mr. MoyleInformation is not readily machines in the countries mentioned, but the following table gives the number of patients per million population receiving haemodialysis treatment in hospital or at home on 31st December 1976. These figures are produced by the European Dialysis and Transplant Association.
Patients on Haemodialysis Country Per million Population Belgium … … 94.7 Denmark … … 65.6 France … … 106.7 W. Germany … … 97.0 Ireland … … 37.3 Italy … … 93.6 Luxembourg … … 66.6 Netherlands … … 76.3 United Kingdom … … 43.3 The 1976 figures are not available for the United States of America and Canada, but the corresponding figures for 31st December 1975 are 95.2 and 73.4 patients treated per million population, respectively.