§ Mr. EtheringtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the hospitals which have facilities to provide extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation for children aged(a) up to six months and (b) six months and over; and how many paediatric intensive care beds there are in each of the units with extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation facilities. [19497]
§ Mr. HoramOn the basis of recently publishec evidence of the effectiveness of extra-corporea membrane oxygenation in neonates, my right hon. Frienc the Secretary of State announced on 8 January that, from 1 April this year, an ECMO service for neonates and premature babies up to six months suffering front respiratory syncytial virus will be purchased centrally from Great Ormond Street hospital for sick children London; Glenfield hospital, Leicester; and the Freemar hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne. All three have the necessary neonatal and paediatric facilities to suppor ECMO treatment for this group of babies.
The information requested on the number of paediatric intensive care beds with ECMO facilities is not held centrally.