§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his Department's assessment of the total cost to date attributable to heat-treating imported blood products; if he will list the hospitals where these costs have 332W been incurred giving in each case the costs incurred; how much of the total costs have been met by (a) district health authorities, (b) regional health authorities and (c) special allocations from his Department.
§ Mr. Newton[pursuant to his reply, 16 February 1987, c. 510]: Imported factor VIII for haemophiliacs is heat-treated during manufacture. It is not possible to estimate reliably the proportion of the cost of factor VIII which is attributable to heat treatment. Estimation is made difficult because the unheated product is no longer available to provide a comparison and because regional health authorities negotiate different prices for the different products available. Our broad estimate is that heat treatment has added an additional £2 million to the cost of factor VIII purchased in 1986–87.
Health authorities are responsible for the provision of care for haemophiliacs through a national network of haemophilia centres, six of which are designated reference centres and have each received an additional allocation of £60,000 specifically for AIDS counselling. A further £280,000 has been allotted for distribution in 1987–88. Information on individual centre's costs is not held centrally.