§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what standard is set by her Department for colostomy bags; what work is being undertaken to improve the standard of such bags; and what consideration has been given to the need for an expiry date for their use.
§ Mr. SackvilleColostomy bags should conform to British standard 7127, although some older products on the market will pre-date this standard. The Department contributed to the drafting of this standard, which was published in 1991. Discussions are proceeding with several independent testing laboratories, with the objective of increasing the number of facilities for compliance testing.
The standard stipulates that products which have a shelf life of less than five years shoud be labelled with the expiry date.