§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish figures on the most convenient basis showing how much blood was supplied by the National Service to commercial hospitals, and at what cost, for the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. DeakinsIn 1976, which is the latest year for which complete figures are available, 1,844,363 units of blood were collected by the National Blood Transfusion Service in England and Wales. Approximately 2 per cent. of the total was supplied to private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes either in the form of whole blood or of components. No charge is made for the blood itself or for the blood from which blood products are derived and the additional cost to the National Health Service of handling and processing this blood would be difficult to assess retrospectively. It is, however, the intention that the NHS should not be out of pocket when blood and blood products are supplied to the private sector of medicine and a scale of charges which reflect handling and processing costs will be 175W worked out as soon as a basis for apportioning all the relevant items of expenditure has been settled.