Umbilical Cord Blood

Mark Tami Excerpts

Monday 31st January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Burrowes]

I am very grateful for that intervention. The hon. Lady and I share an interest in both sickle cell anaemia and the thalassaemia issue. The UK Thalassaemia Society, whose headquarters are in my constituency, has great interest in this area and, in particular, in the black and minority ethnic communities, who are not able to get matches through the bone marrow register and are acutely in need. That is particularly the case for mixed-race families, who struggle to find any match and are sometimes wholly reliant on a cord blood solution. That is why it is welcome that over the years the previous Government and this Government have increased the number of collection centres to make more of those units available.

However, more needs to be done because, sadly, where Britain once led, it is now falling behind the United States, France, Germany and Spain. All those countries now outstrip our cord blood collection, inhibiting our research capacity. There are 700,000 births each year in the UK and in almost every single instance the cord blood is discarded as medical waste. I am not proposing routine collection, but we must question the health and economic value of throwing all these potentially life-saving cords away. I welcome the fact that the Government are nudging people to agree voluntarily to donate their organs upon death, and I would encourage a similar nudge in encouraging mothers to consider donating umbilical cord blood.

Progress has been made, but more needs to be done. There are 1,600 people waiting for a stem cell transplant, but the unmet need in annual terms is only 440 transplants per year. A bank of just 50,000 umbilical cords would provide the bulk of that need. Sadly, simply increasing the size of the adult register is not an alternative to having cord blood. We already have access to more than 16 million donors on registers worldwide. The work of the Anthony Nolan Trust and others helps us to access that adult register, but we would need a UK adult register of a similar size to approach the effectiveness of a 50,000-unit cord blood bank.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his earlier comments. It is difficult to talk in financial terms about such issues, but with patients who do not get a transplant, there is a huge ongoing medical cost for their treatment, whereas a transplant could save that money, which could then be reinvested in the health service.

[Mr Burrowes]

We often talk about investing to save, but this is an area in which investment would save both money and lives. I shall go into that in more detail.

A report on transplantation by the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum, ably chaired by Professor Charles Craddock, was published in December 2010 by NHS Blood and Transplant. The Minister discussed the report, which makes important recommendations, with the all-party group on the day of its publication. The report recommended, first, investing in expanding Britain’s cord blood bank capacity to 50,000 units. Those proposals have been properly costed and the costs have been balanced against effectiveness by NHS Blood and Transplant. For an investment of £50 million, spread over five years, Britain could have that 50,000-unit cord blood bank.

--- Later in debate ---

[Anne Milton]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. It would be terribly simplistic to think that it is just a matter of donors coming forward. We know from organ donation—it is also the case for umbilical cord blood—that it is important to streamline the processes, because there are unacceptable delays. The report’s recommendations cover the whole process from beginning to end. I do not underestimate the need to raise the importance of this issue. Many hon. Members can play a critical role in their local areas and with their local media by highlighting the importance of organ donation.

[Mark Tami]

Will the Minister give way?

[Anne Milton]

I am conscious of the time but happy to give way, because the hon. Gentleman has done a lot of work on this issue.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Tami]

Does the Minister agree that Anthony Nolan has done an awful lot—particularly with the introduction of spit and swab tests—to help people to take that first step on the ladder? Before, when it was a case of just giving blood, that put a lot of people off, particularly males, such as myself, who are rather squeamish about these things, but it is very important to get the maximum number of people to take that first step forward.

[Anne Milton]

Yes, absolutely. The hon. Gentleman is quite right to highlight yet again the work of Anthony Nolan, which is crucial, but I urge him and all male Members to remember that they have nothing to fear from needles and no need to be squeamish about those things; it is about potentially saving lives.

It is a challenging time financially, and we cannot put that behind us. It is important that we get the UK back on a secure financial footing, and that means funding will be tight, but I want to reach out further to our partners in charities to see how we can work together. We are not short of offers in that field. My hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate will know that I am shortly meeting Cord Blood Charity to see what part it can play, and Anthony Nolan is making every effort to provide additional funding for the important work that I have spoken about.

On Government funding, the Department of Health will provide some £4 million in additional funding to help with service development, but, more than that, we will continue to help in other ways, bringing together key stakeholders to ensure that all opportunities to bring about those further improvements and to implement those recommendations are taken. We are also working towards increasing the size of the cord blood bank by funding NHS Blood and Transplant to increase the bank to 20,000 units by 2013—an increase in stored units of almost 100% since 2008. I know that my hon. Friend would like to me go on, and as part of future strategic planning I shall ask NHS Blood and Transplant to consider the options for developing the bank even further, with the final goal of reaching a stock of 50,000 stored cord blood units, accessible to all NHS patients.

In the development of that new commissioning structure within the NHS, we will listen closely to the recommendations of the forum report, with respect to improving NHS practices and commissioning. The forum has met since the report’s publication, and I hope that it will continue to meet to advise the sector on best practice and to provide innovative solutions to implement those recommendations. I shall keep closely in touch with all those who have shown such a close interest.

Improving the health care pathway for stem cell transplantation to treat life-threatening diseases is a vital part of that work. I use those words cautiously, but I want to see NHS patients having access to the best possible services. We are meeting my hon. Friend soon to discuss the issues raised in the report and some that have come out of this debate. As always, his contributions to the debate are welcomed, highly respected and, like those of many Members, motivated by the best possible intention, which is to save lives.

Question put and agreed to.