National Blood Service

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Tuesday 15th March 2011 Westminster Hall

[Jim Dobbin]

Yes. That is exactly right. Those staff, who are well trained specialists in their area, are very concerned about the damage that this proposal would do to the blood transfusion system and they are very angry about what is possibly going to happen. Of course, they also fear that donors will walk away. There are 1.4 million volunteer donors at the moment. They donate about 200,000 units every year, which is a huge amount of blood, and all of it is donated voluntarily. Privatisation of the blood service has been tried in New Zealand and it drove down the number of blood donors. It deterred them from making that contribution freely, because donors do not like to see their organs or blood as part of a private sector business.

Why should the private sector profit from blood that is given freely? There is no private sector organisation that has the expertise to provide the range of services—blood supplies, tissue, organs and specialist products, plus the specialist research expertise—that are provided by the NHS blood transfusion service.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this important debate. He raised an important issue when he said that there are a number of reasons why people give blood. Personally, I gave blood at the Galpharm stadium in Huddersfield a couple of years ago because I was inspired by Adrian Sudbury, the journalist from The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Before he died, he also inspired people to sign up to the bone marrow register maintained by the Anthony Nolan Trust. So there is a lot of good work going on and the hon. Gentleman has identified that. I hope that the Minister, in her deliberations, will think about the other roles that the National Blood Service plays. The hon. Gentleman quite rightly identified that the service is not only about giving blood but about giving tissue and other material. I thank him for making that point.

[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.

--- Later in debate ---

[Anne Milton]

I am pretty sure that it will, but I will check.

There have been suggestions that outsourcing some other functions might lead to donors declining to donate. We are absolutely clear that in exploring other opportunities, we will not put at risk any aspect of public health. I do not want donors or any Member here today to believe that this is privatisation of our highly respected National Blood Service.

[Jason McCartney]

I thank the Minister for clarifying that there will be no sell-off—no privatisation—of the National Blood Service. Some Opposition Members are concerned that if there was some privatisation there would be a drop in donations, which is something that no one in the House would wish. Hopefully, Members on both sides of the House can now pass on that information, so that there is confidence in the National Blood Service and we see an increase in donations. We welcome the efficiency measures as well.

[Anne Milton]

I thank my hon. Friend for reiterating that point. Blood is donated freely to the NHS to improve and save patients’ lives. Like any donation, it is a gift, and we want to maximise the opportunities for that gift. We do not want to do anything to discourage donors. I state categorically that the donor-facing aspects of blood donation are excluded from the review, which will ensure that the relationship between NHSBT and its donors is not compromised.

My hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson) mentioned that people, in particular men who have had sex with men, are excluded from blood donation, and that issue is currently under consideration. I understand that there has been a lot of concern that the rules are outdated, and we will make an announcement on the issue at some point in the near future.

I feel that I have been repetitive, but I need to be to make the point, so I reiterate the Government’s support for, and belief in, a single national system for donated blood and organs, with NHSBT at its helm. That does not mean there is a blinkered belief that the system has already reached the peak of its potential; it would be remiss of the Government to think so. NHSBT, like all areas of public and private life, must continue to innovate and to challenge itself if it is to provide the best possible service. The current review is designed to explore how it can do that, to keep the price of blood—the cost to the NHS—as low as possible and to provide the high-quality blood service that donors and recipients deserve.