National Blood Service
Debate between Grahame Morris and Jim Dobbin(13 years, 9 months ago)
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Jim Dobbin
I thank the hon. Gentleman very much. That was a very positive contribution, based on his own specific experience. There is a petition about this issue, there are now some 35,000 signatures on it, and it is building up all the time.
Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)
I also congratulate my hon. Friend on securing a very important debate about an issue that is of great concern among the public. I wanted to ask him about the lessons from overseas countries where blood transfusion services have been privatised and where it is standard to pay for donated materials. What lessons can we learn from those countries about the safety of supply?
Jim Dobbin
I referred earlier to another privatisation that took place in the health service, when cleaning was put out to tender. Of course, the quality of the service was reduced. That is exactly what I fear will happen with the blood service, because if someone is in the business of making money and making profit they take short cuts. It is as simple as that.
The petition that I was talking about is building up. In addition, 300 people got in touch to say how much they valued the blood service. For many of those people, their loved ones personally benefited from the altruism of a fellow human being.
The blood service began before the national health service, around the time of world war two, when the demand for the service originated. So the blood service is older than the NHS.
I am very concerned. The Government are saying that only elements of the NHS blood transfusion service are under discussion at the present time but that is a dangerous route to go down. I hope that the Minister will take this issue back to the Government and the Secretary of State, and ask for a review of this particular service that the public so dearly love. The other thing that I will say is that if someone is looking for a big society in action, the blood service is it.