§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the effects on transplant services of the White Paper on the National Health Service.
§ Mr. FreemanOrgan transplant services are normally provided on a supra-district, regional or supra-regional basis. The NHS review White Paper states that most of these services will in future be bought by districts for their resident populations from their basic allocations. The780W White Paper does, however, recognise that some central funding will be necessary for the development of supra-regional services, and that regional health authorities may decide on a similar approach to the funding of some regional or supra-district services. The NHS management executive will discuss with RHAs the detailed application to these services of the new funding arrangements proposed.
781WFor further details of the proposed arrangements for supra-regional services, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Sir D. Price) on 25 May.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about dialysis and transplant rates in each of the EEC countries.
§ Mr. FreemanAccording to information provided by the European Dialysis and Transplant Association, the number of patients alive on all forms of renal replacement therapy, including dialysis and transplant, on 31 December 1987 was:
Country Total Rate per million population Belgium 3,905 396 Denmark 1,191 233 Federal Republic of Germany 26,402 434 France 18,482 333 Greece 2,568 257 Ireland 782 218 Italy 18,697 327 Luxembourg 151 413 Netherlands 5,136 353 Portugal 3,086 300 Spain 12,941 333 United Kingdom 15,119 267 In recent years, the acceptance of new patients on to therapy has been increasing rapidly in the United Kingdom. The percentage change in each EC country from 1984 to 1987 is shown below.
Country Percentage change Belgium +12 Denmark +24 Federal Republic of Germany +37 France +24 Greece +23 Ireland -15 Italy +15 Luxembourg +102 Netherlands -11 Portugal -2 Spain -7 United Kingdom +41
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many United Kingdom citizens entitled to National Health Service treatment underwent transplants in private hospitals in the United Kingdom in 1988.
§ Mr. FreemanPrecise information is not available centrally, but the number is thought to be very small.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are on the waiting list for(a) heart, (b) heart-lung and (c) lung transplants for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. FreemanAccording to information provided by the United Kingdom transplant service, the number of National Health Service patients waiting for a heart, heart-lung, or lung transplant since January 1986 was:
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Number 6 January 1986 269 31 December 1986 362 31 December 1987 337
Number 31 December 1988 419 22 May 1989 474 The rising waiting list reflects rising referrals to the transplant centres as the success of the technique has become increasingly apparent. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State announced on 13 December 1988 at column 539 his intention to designate and fund a fifth supra-regional heart transplant centre from 1 April 1990.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the median waiting time for patients on the kidney transplant waiting list;
(2) how many people are waiting for a kidney transplant; and how many were waiting in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. FreemanAccording to information provided by the United Kingdom transplant service, the number of National Health Service patients awaiting a kidney transplant in the United Kingdom for the last five years was as follows:
Number 1 January 1985 12,985 6 January 1986 13,443 31 December 1986 13,468 31 December 1987 3,306 31 December 1988 3,493 22 May 1989 3,549 1 This figure includes patients waiting in Eire. Information on waiting times for kidney transplants is given in my reply to the hon. Member for Southport (Mr. Fearn) on 22 February 1989 at columns 674–75.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the effect on the United Kingdom transplant waiting list of demand from other EEC countries.
§ Mr. FreemanIt appears unlikely that the treatment of EC patients under any of the NHS transplant programmes has a material effect on United Kingdom waiting lists. EC patients would not generally wish their names to be added to the waiting list for donor kidneys. In the case of liver transplants, more organs are available at present than are required to meet United Kingdom needs. The relatively small number of heart transplants performed on EC patients is roughly equivalent to the number of organs donated to United Kingdom patients from EC sources.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many conferences or seminars on transplantation have been sponsored or organised by the Department of Health in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. FreemanMost conferences on transplantation are organised by health authorities and professional and voluntary bodies. The Department provides encouragement and, on occasions, participates in such conferences. Accurate statistics on departmental involvement over the last 10 years could be assembled only at disproportionate cost.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many applications for funding for publicity on organ 783W transplants have been made to the Department of Health in each of the last five years; and how many have been granted.
§ Mr. FreemanFormal applications for assistance with publicity expenditure are rarely received, although ideas for publicity initiatives are often put forward in correspondence or discussion. It would be possible to assemble a comprehensive list of these ideas only at a disproportionate cost. However, the Department is currently considering suggestions for publicity projects put forward by a number of organisations associated with transplantation, including the National Federation of Kidney Patients' Association, the British Transplant Games, and the United Kingdom Transplant Co-ordinators Association.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) in how many languages the donor card is available;
(2) if he will make a statement about transplantation in the minority ethnic groups.
§ Mr. FreemanPatients from minority ethnic groups often experience relatively long waiting times for transplants because of the difficulty of obtaining a well-matched organ. This is due largely to low rates of organ donation in these communities, which appear to be associated with culture and tradition. Transplant units in areas with substantial ethnic minority populations carry out local projects aimed at increasing awareness of transplantation among these groups. One unit has provided leaflets and other publicity material in the majority ethnic language explaining organ donation and the use of the donor card. The Department's organ donor card is in English, but I understand that in one area a card has been produced in Gujurati.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those departmental health authorities which hold a Transplant Day to draw attention to the potential of organ donation.
§ Mr. FreemanWe do not collect this information centrally. I suggest that the hon. Member contacts health authorities for the details she requires.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information he has as to whether a central library of educational material about organ donation and transplantation has been collected.
§ Mr. FreemanI understand that a number of organisations associated with transplantation are considering ways in which such a library could be established.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in developing publicity about organ donation and transplant among doctors, nurses and the public.
§ Mr. FreemanWe have recently produced a new leaflet to accompany the donor card. Display material and a video on transplantation and organ donation for professional staff are in the final stages of preparation.
§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what support is given to the public relations offices of the United Kingdom transport service; and what is the offices' total departmental budget.
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§ Mr. FreemanThe Department funds an officer at the United Kingdom transplant service to deal with inquiries about the work of the organisation. We do not provide UKTS with a budget for publicity on organ donation. The funds for this are handled by the Department's information division.