§ Mr. Hanleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has now completed his discussions with regional health authorities on targets for the expansion of services for patients suffering end stage renal failure; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenMy right hon. Friend informed health authorities at the beginning of the year of the need for renal services to be developed as a priority within the acute sector. He told them of his intention to set targets against which the expansion of renal service provision would be monitored. The target for each region will be to accept new renal patients for treatment at a minimum annual rate of 40 per million total population by 1987. This will ensure that more patients are accepted for treatment and also that progress is made in raising the level of renal services in the less well provided parts of the country. We have consulted regional health authorities and I am pleased to say that all have agreed these targets as reasonable. South East Thames and South West Thames will be treated as a single region for the purposes of this exercise. I hope that in as many regions as possible the targets will be significantly exceeded, and it is the Government's intention that the provision of renal services will continue to expand after 1987.
Over the last five years we have increased the number of new renal patients accepted for teatment in the United Kingdom by 50 per cent.—from 1,233 (22.1 per million 310W population) in 1979 to 1,846 (33.0 per million population) in 1983. This is a significant achievement, but more still needs to be done.
For most patients who suffer end stage renal failure, the preferred method of treatment is by kidey transplant. The factor limiting the expansion of kidney transplantation has been the availability of donor organs, so in February of this year we launched a new campaign to increase public awareness of the benefits of transplantation and to promote the organ donor card scheme.
The results of the first six months of the campaign were most encouraging; over 11 million new donor cards were distributed, and the number of kidney transplant operations performed was 40 per cent. up on the equivalent period in 1983, which was itself a record year. We hope to continue this progress in 1985.