§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will take into consideration the charges for blood levied on patients by private hospitals in his discussions with them about the level of handling charge he now proposes to levy on them.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeAs my right hon. Friend has already explained in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Mr. Knox) on 8 November — [Vol. 48, c.71.]—the charges will be designed to cover the cost to the National Health Service of collecting, processing, handling and transporting the materials. Private hospitals will be free to pass on these charges to their patients. It will, however, remain a strict condition of supply that no profit is to be made from blood or blood derivatives supplied by the national blood transfusion service.