§ Mr. Ian TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in establishing the national blood authority.
§ Mr. SackvilleI have today laid before the House an order to establish the national blood authority from 1 April 1993. From that date it will replace the Central Blood Laboratories Authority and the national directorate of the National Blood Transfusion Service. We propose that the new authority should assume responsibility for managing the regional transfusion centres from 1 April 1994.
I am pleased to announce that Mr. Lawrence Banks, a director of Robert Fleming Holdings Limited and Mr. Dennis Allison, general manager of the North Western regional health authority have agreed to serve as non-executive members of the new national blood authority. Mr. John Adey, former managing director of Baxter Healthcare Ltd, has been appointed to be the chief executive of the new authority. Additional appointments will be made shortly.