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Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey): As the proposals at the end of the consultation were the same as those at the beginning, will the Secretary of State undertake to release all the evidence, so that the public can see whether the decision reflects the weight of evidence? Can he assure the House that no hospital will have its emergency services delayed longer than now? I heard the assurance that it is two hours per hospital. Will any hospitals be worse off?
Does the charter that the right hon. Gentleman has announced mean that there will be no huge profiteering by selling on blood supplies, as revealed earlier in the year, or is it all about Tony Hancock proposals, such as making sure people can have sugar in their tea?
Mr. Dorrell:
First, the hon. Gentleman said that the proposals are the same as when they originally went to consultation. That is not true. I have referred already to changes in Cambridge, and some important new safeguards which were introduced as a result of the consultations. The hon. Gentleman asked for evidence. The evidence submitted to such a consultation is the property of the people who submit it; if they wish to publish it, that is entirely their right. I do not intend to publish it.
I give the hon. Gentleman the absolute assurance that no hospital will experience a diminution in the time taken to replenish its blood bank. I also give him the absolute assurance that there will be no change in the directive to the national blood service, which is that it does not make a profit out of the act of donation of human blood.
Mr. Douglas Hurd (Witney):
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for the way in which he has handled this matter. Will he allay anxiety by assuring us that the Oxford hospitals--and, indeed, other hospitals--will continue to have the full and prompt range of services that they enjoy now? Will he further assure us that the Oxford blood centre and the other centres that will lose processing and testing will remain open and still have a worthwhile job to do?
Mr. Dorrell:
I can certainly give my right hon. Friend both those assurances. Every hospital will continue to receive the same timely service that it receives now. The only change will be for those that experience improvements as a result of the development of the chain of national blood service blood banks announced today. The quality of service available to every national health service patient will continue to be built on the quality of reputation that the national blood service has built for itself. My right hon. Friend can have the absolute assurance that all 13 blood centres will continue to exist-- what is changing is the processing and testing behind those blood centres.
Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge):
The announcement today will be met with utter dismay in my constituency, especially as the consultation has been carried out in what I believe to have been a very unfair way. Cambridge has had no opportunity to evaluate the effects of the closure of the Cambridge centre on services in Cambridge.
Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate the profound effect that that will have both on the liver transplant programme at Addenbrooke's hospital, and on the heart and heart-lung programmes at Papworth hospital? They are world-renowned centres of excellence in their fields, and both place a high demand on the transfusion service for blood and blood component supports. Does not the right hon. Gentleman feel that simply leaving a fridge of blood at the Cambridge site is ludicrous in the extreme?
Mr. Dorrell:
I join the hon. Lady in recognising and applauding the excellence of the service at both Addenbrooke's and Papworth. I can give the consultants and, more importantly, the patients at those hospitals the assurance that the national blood service will continue to deliver all the things that they have grown used to, with the important addition of an improved research and development function--which will be located in the hon. Lady's constituency and at Bristol. I had hoped that the hon. Lady might welcome that.
Mr. Roger Sims (Chislehurst):
Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the demand for blood has increased steadily in recent years and continues to do so, and that it is therefore essential that there is an adequate number of donors? Will he assure the House that the reorganisation that he has announced today will not diminish the opportunities available to those who wish to give blood? To emphasise the importance of the service, would he care to set an example by giving a little ministerial blood?
Mr. Dorrell:
I gave some ministerial blood last week, so I would not be welcome again this week.
My hon. Friend rightly placed importance on the act of donorship, on which the national blood service depends. That is why I placed stress on ensuring that we enhance the facilities available for blood donorship, that the act of donorship is properly respected, and that the arrangements made for donors are as convenient as possible. That is the purpose of the blood donors charter. I welcome the fact that that, at least, has been welcomed by the Opposition.
Mr. Peter L. Pike (Burnley):
The right hon. Gentleman will know that the Lancaster centre has been concerned throughout that the specialist services it provides could be put in jeopardy by his announcement this afternoon. Is that the position, or have there been changes to take account of its fears in that respect?
Mr. Dorrell:
The changes that will be implemented at Lancaster are essentially the changes that were originally proposed: to maintain the blood centre, to stop processing and testing, and to ensure that the support services based at Lancaster take part in the national reorganisation that I have talked about. The effect will be to ensure that the specialist support services available from the national blood service respond to the demands made on them by NHS hospitals and are organised in such a way as to deliver the service as efficiently as possible.
Mr. Eric Pickles (Brentwood and Ongar):
I thank my right hon. Friend for listening to the staff and the many supporters of the blood processing unit at Brentwood. Does he agree that the one area of the country that will have a growth in population is East Anglia, and that the decision to retain the Brentwood processing plant will guarantee blood processing within the East Anglia area for all future needs?
On a general point, does my right hon. Friend agree that, before the reorganisation of the blood service, if there was a shortage of blood in one part of the country and a glut in another, it was not possible to send blood where it was needed, and that sending blood from Scotland to London is therefore something that we should applaud rather than condemn?
Mr. Dorrell:
My hon. Friend is quite right to stress the importance of regarding the blood that is contributed to the national blood service as a national resource, which we should be able to use as efficiently as possibly to meet national needs. That is one of the major purposes of the changes that I have announced.
As for Brentwood, my hon. Friend is right to stress the important role that it will now play in meeting the rising demand for blood in central London and in East Anglia. It is also important to underline the fact that the revised proposals for Brentwood allow the development of the
research and development facility in Cambridge, whose function is an important part of the development of modern evidence-based medicine. That is an important part of the total package that I have announced.
Mr. Ken Eastham (Manchester, Blackley):
May I ask the Minister for some details about the chairman? Will the job be voluntary, fulltime or parttime? Will the user group be a quango run from Conservative central office, and what salary will the chairman receive, if any?
Mr. Dorrell:
There will be no salary attached to the appointment; it will be done as part of Professor Gordon-Smith's commitment to the NHS, to ensure that the NHS delivers a continuing improvement in the service to its patients. Several consultants expressed concern during the consultation about the standards of delivery of the national blood service. The national user group responds to that concern by inviting representatives of the users of the national blood service to form a group to monitor the delivery of standards, and that group's reports will be published.
Sir Malcolm Thornton (Crosby):
I have listened very carefully to my right hon. Friend's statement. While I welcome the assurances that he has given about the service that will be provided, may I draw his attention to the regionally, nationally and internationally respected service provided by consultant haematologists in Liverpool? Has he taken into account in making his decision the fact that this could well jeopardise the wider research basis of developments in Merseyside, and will he consider that further if necessary?
Mr. Dorrell:
I have certainly taken account of that view, of which I am well aware. As I said, there was an article in last Friday's British Medical Journal which demonstrated that, in the view of a senior and respected consultant haematologist, that argument does not hold water, and that it is possible to maintain high-quality clinical services, including research, without having a processing and testing base in the relevant blood centre. It is precisely in order to ensure that any concerns about the standards of service that are delivered are met that I have established the national user group to which I have referred.
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