Written question asked by Dai Havard (Labour) on Monday, 30 June 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 July 2003. It was answered by Melanie Johnson (Labour) on Monday, 14 July 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many units of red blood cells were commissioned for use in the NHS in each of the last five years.- Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many units of red blood cells were commissioned for use in the NHS in each of the last five years. [123388] Miss Melanie Johnson: Information on the number of red cell units issued by the National Blood Service to hospitals in England and North Wales for the last five years is shown in the table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Red cell units issued 1998-99 2,213,000 1999-2000 2,243,000 2000-01 2,229,000 2001-02 2,206,000 2002-03 2,186,000 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Notes: 1. This includes issues to private hospitals 2. The figures shown include paediatric red cells. As these smaller units are produced by dividing a donation of blood, the numbers of these units have been aggregated into full unit equivalents and added to the total.

Secondary information