§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why the number of new patients accepted for renal dialysis and transplantation is lower in Great Britain than in the USA, Japan, France, West Germany, East Germany, Italy aod Spain.
§ Mr. MoyleThe number of patients per million population treated by renal transplantation in the United Kingdom in 1977 was 12.4, a higher rate than all the countries mentioned in the question, except the USA. The rate of acceptance for dialysis treatment in this country in 1977 was lower than that in many countries including all those mentioned. Contributory factors include widely varying clinical selection criteria for treatment between countries, and also the shortage of dialysis facilities in this country. The.766W Government are concerned about this shortage and have recently taken several urgent measures, including setting aside from the extra money made available to the NHS earlier this year an additional £3½1 million for increasing the availability of this form of treatment.