Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 16 May 2000

Vol. 519 No. 2

Written Answers. - Blood Transfusion Service.

Bernard Allen

Question:

202 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he has satisfied himself that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service has adequate resources to introduce proven new technologies to detect CJD in the screening of blood. [13577/00]

Bernard Allen

Question:

218 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the plans, if any, he has to have discussions with the Blood Transfusion Service Board with regard to the increase of 33% in the price of blood, which now costs £94 per unit, in view of the impact this will have on health costs and also in view of the fact that the Blood Transfusion Service Board has achieved a record income of over £42 million, almost £11 million more than their 1998 figure, with the 33% increase in the price of blood as one of the central reasons behind the extra revenue. [13594/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 202 and 218 together.

The cost of blood and blood components supplied by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service – IBTS – increased by 48% on 1 January 1999. This level of increase was necessary to fund a substantial additional investment in the service in order to meet the highest international standards in transfusion. The additional income was used to fund, inter alia, the full year costs of the blood safety programme, including the costs of the new blood tests, PCR and leucodepletion; the additional costs of ensuring regulatory compliance; the additional costs of implementing the service's reorganisation plan; and the additional costs of implementing the service's consultant manpower, quality assurance and training plans.

While the service's total income for 1999 rose by £11 million to £42 million, the Deputy will note that because of the developments outlined above, together with the increased cost of recombinant products for persons with haemophilia, expenditure also increased by a similar amount over this period, from £31 million to £42 million.

My Department allocated approximately £6.4 million additional targeted funding to health agencies in their allocations for 1999 to cover the increased cost of blood and blood components. This increase was in addition to the general increase allocated to them to cover non-pay price rises during the year.

The cost of blood components, products and services supplied by the IBTS increased by 2% on 1 January 2000 to take account of general cost increases in the health services during the year and the ongoing implementation of the service's development programme. Health agencies received a 2% increase in their overall non-pay allocation for 2000 to cover price increases such as this.

The IBTS continues to implement an efficiency programme to achieve greater economy and effectiveness without compromising blood safety.

In relation to CJD, there is no proven instance of classical CJD having been transmitted through blood or blood products, but the theoretical possibility associated with variant CJD – vCJD – cannot be excluded at this time. There is currently no screening test to detect the presence of vCJD. For my part, I will ensure that the IBTS has adequate resources to introduce proven new technologies in this area.

Experimental animal models suggest that the infectivity of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which include CJD and vCJD, may be associated with white blood cells in animal systems. White blood cells can be removed from blood donations using special filters. This process is called leucodepletion. As a precautionary measure in order to minimise the theoretical risk of transmission, the IBTS introduced leucodepletion for cellular products in 1999, and my Department made available adequate resources for this purpose, as I have explained above.