HC Deb 28 July 1988 vol 138 c539W
Mr. Ian Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has completed his consideration of the National Health Service management consultancy services report on the organisation of the national blood transfusion service; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Currie

We have decided that new management arrangements are needed for the supraregional and national dimension of the national blood transfusion service. We therefore intend that operational responsibility at the national level for the NBTS and the Central Blood Laboratories Authority (CBLA) will be exercised on behalf of the Health Ministers for England and Wales by the NHS management board and undertaken by its director of operations, in consultation in respect of Wales with the director, NHS Wales. Day-to-day implementation of the national strategy will be delegated to a new national director of the NBTS and a small supporting staff.

The key objectives will be:

  1. (a) to implement a cost-effective strategy for ensuring an adequate supply of blood throughout England and Wales;
  2. (b) to implement a cost effective strategy for the supply of plasma to the blood products laboratory of the CBLA;
  3. (c) to co-ordinate the activities of the NBTS and the CBLA;
  4. (d) to promote the efficiency of the NBTS.

In implementing the objectives in (a) and (b) a priority task will be to remove financial disincentives by having a national system of processing and handling charges both between transfusion centres and between them and CBLA. No charges will be made, of course, for freely donated blood.

The national director will be Dr. Harold Gunson, who is at present the regional transfusion director for north western region.

I have arranged for copies of the report to be placed in the Library.