§ Mr. Mark Carlisleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total cost to the Natonal Health Service of the treatment of cases of renal failure by haemodialysis and by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis; and what is the cost per patient of each method of treatment.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergOn the second part of my right hon. and learned Friend's Question, I refer him to my reply to the hon. Member for Eccles (Mr. Carter-Jones) on 2 March—[Vol. 38, c.159–61]. Given the small scale of the survey from which these figures were derived, and in the absence of information about patients changing their method of treatment in the course of a year, they do not provide a reliable basis for estimating national costs.
§ Mr. Mark Carlisleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to the answer of 14 February, Official Report, c. 29, how many National Health Service patients are known to be suffering from renal failure; and, of these, how many are at the moment being treated by haemodialysis and how many by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe number of National Health Service patients suffering from renal failure is not known. Renal failure, often of a temporary nature, may occur in a number of clinical conditions and is not always separately identified. On 31 December 1981, the latest date for which figures are available, 6,687 patients in England were under treatment for chronic renal failure, of whom 2,834 were being treated by haemodialysis and 651 by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.