HC Deb 15 February 1996 vol 271 cc689-90W
Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the price charged to hospitals in Oxford for blood products following reorganisation of the blood service will contain an additional charge to reflect the costs of transporting blood to and from the regional centres at Birmingham, Bristol or Southampton. [15352]

Mr. Horam

Charges paid by hospitals reflect the costs of collecting, processing, storing and distributing blood.

The document "Plans for the Future of the National Blood Service" of November 1995, copies of which are available in the Library, recognises that relocating bulk processing and testing of blood away from Oxford and some other blood centres to other such centres will lead to some increases in transport costs, but it also points out that these extra costs will be more than offset by savings arising from the reorganisation of the service.