Umbilical Cord Blood

Thomas Docherty Excerpts

Monday 31st January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Burrowes]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. There has been some progress on the areas that could retrieve unit cords, particularly from members of BME communities who lack those matches, but we also need to look further at matching that up with regional centres of excellence. I shall return to that point.

First, let me deal with the money issue, which we cannot ignore in this area of health. For an investment of £50 million over five years, we could get that 50,000-unit blood bank. Although it would be difficult to find £10 million a year for five years in these austere times, the financial benefits make sense. The blood bank would provide economies of scale that would reduce the cost to the NHS of every treatment and would radically reduce the need to import expensive stem cell units from abroad, which is, sadly, too common a practice today. The saving that would bring to the NHS has been calculated at £6 million a year in perpetuity. Within 10 years, the entire investment would have been repaid and the programme would save the NHS money for the foreseeable future—and then there are the 200 lives we can choose to save each year by taking that step. So, it would save £6 million and 200 lives a year, and those figures are with currently available treatments at success rates that are currently being achieved.

[Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab)]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. He has mentioned money several times. Is he aware of the work of the Round Table around Britain and Ireland, of which I am a member? It has consistently raised large sums for the Anthony Nolan Trust. Will he place on record his thanks to the Round Table movement for its support for the trust and this matter?

[Mr Burrowes]

I am grateful to that movement and other groups and charities that support this important work.

We need to ensure that we do well what we can do well by adopting the report’s second recommendation to establish regional centres of excellence in cord blood transplants. That would reduce the number of UK centres from 30 to 12, leading to a £12 million saving over 10 years. The report makes the point that that would, crucially, ensure that we had specialised, life-saving therapies in safe, publicly accountable environments. That is fully in line with the Government’s commissioning policy for specialised procedures and would provide great benefit.

The third, really exciting recommendation is about providing an opportunity to build on Britain’s unique strategic advantages, encouraging world-class research and private and voluntary sector growth that will provide new jobs and save further lives. The proposal to create a national trial programme in stem cell transplantation would take advantage of world-class centres of scientific research and the easy and sustained access to patients that the NHS provides. The proposal offers the potential for inward investment, private sector job creation and third sector involvement, as is well demonstrated by the success of the Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham. To quote Professor Craddock:

“The unique international trials network will be highly attractive to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who wish to rapidly evaluate new drug therapies and can be anticipated to make a major contribution to the growth of private sector jobs in this sector.”

The Government, as we know, are encouraging growth. Where better than in the field of cord blood stem cell transplantation? The Minister has been kind enough to keep me informed of the progress that her Department is making in the development of a response to the proposals in the report. I hope the time is nearing when she will be able to make a statement on her plans in this area. I trust that in the complexities and scientific details of that report, her Department will be clear about the central message that 200 lives and £6 million can be saved each year.

In conclusion, I draw upon the story of Sorrel Mason. Prior to her life-saving procedure, her parents had never heard of the importance of cord blood donation and its benefits for stem cell transplant patients. No one could put it better than they did when they said:

“It’s quite hard in this country to donate your umbilical cord. Hopefully as time goes by there’ll be more places that offer this lifesaving opportunity.”

In a Parliament that will be characterised by the difficult decisions that it makes, this is one decision that we cannot afford not to take, and yes, I will say it again: it is vital to do so.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Anne Milton)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr Burrowes) for securing this debate on a topic that is vital. He is right to state that this is yet another opportunity to highlight the issue. All opportunities are useful to raise it in the minds not only of those in the House this evening, but of the public and of those in a position to influence what goes on.

The Department recognised the importance of this issue when it asked the NHS Blood and Transplant Authority to review the UK’s collection, supply and use of stem cells from both bone marrow and umbilical cord blood. The general consensus was that the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum did a superb job on the review. Its report, which was published in December last year, involved a well thought through, strategic and costed analysis. It provided us, probably for the first time, with an honest appraisal of the use of stem cell units in the UK in the public and charitable sectors. Unfortunately, as is often the case if such reports are honest and frank, some of it made uncomfortable reading.

The review found that the delivery of stem cell units for transplant in the UK is not as efficient or effective as it should be. As my hon. Friend stated, we lag behind many other comparative countries, including Germany and the United States. Some 400 patients each year fail to find suitable donors. Then delays in the system mean that those who find a donor are sometimes, sadly, much too ill to receive a transplant. For these patients the prognosis is very poor.

As the hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) pointed out, for patients from a black or minority ethnic background, the problem is compounded by the lack of donors or suitable stem cell units available in the first place. Disadvantaged from the outset, their chances drop drastically. On average, about 90% of Caucasians can find a suitably matched donor, compared with only 30% to 40% of those from other ethnic backgrounds. That is unacceptable and pretty shocking. As I said when I announced the report’s publication at a meeting of the all-party group on stem cell transplantation, I am determined to do all that I can to see services improve. I want service providers to develop plans for providing the most effective and efficient service possible in the interests of both the patient and the taxpayer.

My hon. Friend has highlighted a rapidly developing area. Some progress has been made, but it is going at an extraordinary pace. The report not only highlighted what needs to be done, but contained 20 recommendations for the improvement and development of services for the benefit of patients. They include comprehensive changes to the way services are delivered, with a view to establishing the UK once again as a world leader; a more streamlined collection, processing and delivery service, with much more of a focus on results, rather than process; and a radical reconfiguration of transplant services.

The greatest improvements and the quickest gains will be delivered by better bone marrow and umbilical cord blood stem cell services. By making services more efficient, we will see a marked improvement in the treatment, care and support received by patients. We will be able to reduce the time it takes to find a matching donor, address any inequalities in the current system and provide a better service with fewer resources. That will lead to better quality, better management, better planning, better delivery, better outcomes and, crucially, more lives saved. We want those principles to be diligently and consistently applied across the board. The objective is clear: to improve the life chances of those in need of a stem cell transplant.

A considerable amount of work has been done behind the scenes since the publication of the report to see that vision implemented. I have asked officials to work with the forum, NHS Blood and Transplant and Anthony Nolan to develop ways to get a single bone marrow register and cord blood inventory for the NHS in England. We will explore what can be achieved by collective effort, using what is already available and planning for the provision of future services.

[Thomas Docherty]

Further to that point, has the Minister had any discussions with the Scottish Government on their plans for ScotBlood, which is the equivalent service in Scotland? Does she agree that the solution is to have a single register for the whole UK?

[Anne Milton]

There is no doubt that close discussions with all the devolved Administrations are critical. We have a patchy and disjointed service, but as the hon. Gentleman rightly says we need a single register. I am pleased to say that some work is already bearing fruit. At the last meeting of the forum, well-advanced plans were put forward on how NHSBT and Anthony Nolan can work together in future, with targets for reducing the average search time by six weeks and the establishment, for the first time in England, of a single bone marrow register and cord blood inventory. However, we must go further. I cannot praise enough that type of innovative and professional approach. It is collaboration like that that means real improvement for patients. We must have notable improvements on the wards, not just on the spreadsheets.

The UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum review was a Department initiative, and the work was paid for by the Department. We have heard of the efforts of organisations such as Round Table. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Lynda Hamlyn, the chief executive of NHSBT, Henny Braund, her counterpart at Anthony Nolan, and their dedicated, hard-working staff for the work they have done so far. I have no doubt that there is more work to be done and that it will continue in the future.