§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is Her Majesty's Government's policy on charging for blood and blood products using blood donated through the blood transfusion service; what is the income from charges for 1990 nationally and in each NHS region; what is the level of charges imposed currently, in 1990, and in 1989; and what was the source of the income from charges, whether inside the NHS, or from private hospitals or from disposals to commercial organisations.
§ Mr. DorrellThere are no charges made for blood which is freely donated in this country. The costs of collection, testing, processing, handling and transport, which are incurred in supplying non-NHS hospitals with blood and blood derivatives, are recovered by regional transfusion centres (RTCs). The handling charges for 1989–90 and 1990–91 and the income from the charges for the latest year available are shown in the table. Blood is not supplied to commercial organisations.
The regional health authorities have traditionally allocated funds direct to the RTCs to cover their operating costs. However, from April 1991 those funds will be devolved to the district health authorities and the RTCs will recover their operating costs in proportion to the 324W hospital users demands on the RTC for blood supplies. The reimbursement will not include any element for the freely donated blood itself.
1989–90 1990–91 (per unit) (per unit) £ £ Buffy coats 16.75 17.50 Cryoprecipitate 11.00 11.50 Filtered blood 32.75 34.50 Fresh frozen plasma for clinical use 13.50 14.25 Fresh frozen plasma for paediatric use 11.25 11.75 Frozen/recovered red cells 22.00 186.00 Leukocyte-poor red cells 19.25 20.25 Paediatric whole blood 31.00 32.50 Plasma reduced blood 17.00 18.00 Concentrated red cells 16.75 18.00 Platelet concentrate 14.50 15.25 Platelet concentrate (Apheresis) — 46.00 Platelet-rich plasma 11.50 12.00 Red cell compatible blood cells 31.25 32.75 SAG(M) red cells 19.25 20.25 Saline-washed blood red cells 33.25 35.00 Whole blood 29.25 30.75 1 Note—more accurate costing for this product resulted in an exceptional increase.
Table Income from handling charges for 1989–90 £ Northern 21,679 Yorkshire 125,693 Trent 82,111 East Anglia 77,465 North West Thames 631,752 North East Thames 155,634 South East Thames 129,947 South West Thames 463,022 Wessex 383,224 Oxford 104,136 South Western 123,726 West Midlands 208,099 Mersey 27,243 North Western 171,745 TOTAL 2,705,476