HC Deb 01 February 1978 vol 943 cc174-5W
Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services why there are no recognised facilities in the Merseyside Regional Health Authority area for the hospital haemodialysis of patients awaiting kidney transplants from dead people; and what steps are being taken to provide those facilities.

Mr. Moyle

Facilities for the treatment of acute renal failure are available at Sefton General Hospital. These may be used for dialysis of patients awaiting a kidney transplant, up to eight of whom may be treated at any one time. These facilities will be increased by the introduction of the self-care unit at Mossley Hill Hospital to which I refer in my reply to my hon. Friend's other Question on this subject today.

Mr. Kilroy-Silk

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many patients in Merseyside per million are on hospital dialysis; how these compare with the national average; and what steps are being taken to improve the facilities on Merseyside.

Mr. Moyle

Six. National figures are not collected on a directly comparable basis, but 42 patients per million population in the Mersey Region receive hospital or home dialysis compared with a national average of 47.5 per million.

The Mersey Regional Health Authority is providing five additional dialysis machines each year for patients awaiting transplants. In addition to the facilities planned at Mossley Hill Hospital, a dialysis unit is to be provided in the new Royal Liverpool Hospital.

Mr. Carlisle

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many patients are currently receiving treatment on renal dialysis machines in each of the area health authorities throughout England and Wales.

Mr. Moyle

Services for chronic renal failure are highly specialised and need to be provided on a regional or sub-regional basis and, therefore, not all area health authorities have a dialysis unit. The number of patients maintained on haemo

Region In hospital At home Total Patients on Dialysis per million population
Northern 103 80 183 59
Yorkshire 61 73 134 37
Trent 63 204 267 59
East Anglia 36 35 71 40
North-West Thames 67 119 186 53
North-East Thames* 101 247 348 94
South-East Thames 88 175 263 73
South-West Thames† 13 30 43 15
Wessex 10 69 79 29
Oxford 11 104 115 52
South-Western 44 128 172 55
West Midlands 60 73 133 26
Mersey 22 84 106 42
North-Western 25 101 126 31
England 704 1,522 2,226 48
Wales 27 122 149 53
Total 731 1,644 2,375 48
* Including St. Paul's Post-Graduate Hospital.
† Many patients resident in the South-West Thames Region are treated in neighbouring regions.

Mr. Carlisle

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people are waiting to receive treatment on renal dialysis machines in each area health authority throughout England and Wales.

Mr. Moyle

I regret that this information is not available.

Mr. Carlisle

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many renal dialysis machines are in use through the National Health Service in England and Wales at the present time.

Mr. Moyle

There is no central record of the number of kidney machines in use, but the total number of patients in England and Wales receiving treatment by haemodialysis on 30th June 1977 was 2,375.