§ Mr. Woodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what his plans are for the future of heart transplantations.
§ Mr. FowlerI am today publishing the report of a study commissioned by my Department into the costs and benefits of heart transplantation. The study, undertaken by the Department of Economics at Brunel university and the department of community medicine at the University of Cambridge, shows that the costs of carrying out heart transplants have fallen and that benefits, in terms of life expectancy and quality of life, have improved over the last four years.
The report, copies of which have been placed in the Library, has been considered by my Standing Medical Advisory Committee, the Transplant Advisory Panel and the British Cardiac Society. They have all suggested that a gradual expansion of heart transplantation within the National Health Service would now be justified. That is an important conclusion and one which will require careful consideration.
Up to the present, heart transplantation programmes have been supported by special central allocations to the two units concerned. In the current year, £1,600,000 has been allocated to Papworth and Harefield hospitals. That 337W will enable them to carry out a reasonable programme of work. It represents the limit of resources which can be provided this year and, in common with all other services, the units will have to operate within the resources available.
If heart transplantation is now to be considered as appropriate for treatment on a service development basis rather than as part of an experimental programme, it will be necessary to consider how its claims should be dealt with in relation to other competing priorities within the NHS. It is the function of the Supra Regional Services Advisory Group to advise on such issues. I am therefore asking the committee to look into the situation and to make recommendations to Ministers. This group is made up of doctors and laymen who have experience of the range of work of health authorities and advise Ministers on the financial allocations to a few highly specialised services which need central Government funding in a few designated national centres. They will need to take account both of the needs of other services within the NHS and of the extent to which any additions to the heart transplant service would be dependent upon the availability of suitably trained and experienced staff. I shall await their recommendations before reaching conclusions on the extent and nature of any expansion in the service.