asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing, for each of the last five years, the amount of blood from the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service used in private hospitals separate from the National Health Service, the cost to the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service of supplying this blood and the amount of fees received from the private hospitals by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service for this blood.
Detailed figures cannot be provided for the last five years without excessive difficulty. In each of the years ending 31 March 1978 and 1979, about 1,900 units of blood out of some 283,000 units collected annually were used in the private sector of the Scottish Health Service or in private hospitals. No estimate has been made of the cost of supplying this blood, for which no charge is made.