§ Mr. Hannam asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that more patients over the age of 45 years are accepted for the treatment of chronic kidney failure.
§ Dr. Vaughan:The acceptance of a patient for treatment is for the clinical judgment of the consultant concerned. Facilities for treating chronic renal failure have expanded rapidly in the past decade. They are still insufficient to meet all the estimated needs. The rate at which these facilities can be further expanded will depend mainly on the priority that health authorities find it possible to give them against the other claims on their limited resources. The Government have given particular attention to increasing the number of donor kidneys available for transplantation. A successful transplant not only benefits the patient who receives it but also frees a 267W kidney machine for use by another patient. A new plastic donor card was introduced earlier this year and my hon. and learned Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Transport has recently announced that driving licences issued from next year are to include a donor declaration form. In addition, we have continued the funding for developing minimal care dialysis units. The Department is at present undertaking a study of the costs of different methods of treating chronic renal failure, with the object of helping health authorities and clinicians to make more effective use of the resources available.
Mr. Hannam asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the number of new patients with chronic kidney failure, over the ages of 45, 65 and 75 years, respectively, in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, who were accepted for treatment in each of the last three years.
§ Dr. Vaughan:Information for the years 1976–78, the last three years for which figures are available, is given in the following table:
Numbers of new patients Ages 45–65 Ages 65–74 Over 74 France 1976 717 221 29 1977 757 289 32 1978 749 306 54 West Germany 1976 972 196 16 1977 1,057 291 19 1978 1,047 350 34 United Kingdom 1976 301 4 0 1977 353 6 0 1978 464 19 0