PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
NHS PROVISION FOR KIDNEY DISEASE (12 March 1999)

That this House notes that there is a crisis in the provision of treatment of patients with end stage kidney failure; and that if kidney patients are to be prevented from dying unnecessarily urgent action is needed; recognises that kidney units in the United Kingdom are struggling to cope with a 10 to 15 per cent. annual increase in the number of patients, currently 25,000, with end stage kidney failure; notes that demand for life-saving dialysis and transplantation treatment far outstrips healthcare provision, and that access to dialysis treatment is at 87 per million-population per year but this figure falls well short of the minimum needs of 120 per million of population per year for Caucasian and 320 per million of population per year for Afro-Caribbeans and Asians; further recognises that transplantation is the most cost-effective form of treatment for patients in end stage renal failure; but notes, however, that the present organ procurement system is averaging an organ donor retrieval rate of 30 per million-population per year falling short of the minimum estimated demand of 48 per million of population per year; and that hundreds of patients while waiting for life-saving transplants die each year; therefore calls for an urgent and comprehensive review of the arrangements for the treatment for end stage renal failure and the establishment of a national service framework for this disease group; and welcomes the setting up of an all party parliamentary group of honourable Members to address these issues.

Sponsored by:
Dr Evan Harris (Liberal Democrat)