Committee
Public Petitions Committee, 10 Dec 2003
10 Dec 2003 · S2 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Bone Marrow Register (PE687)
Dr McEwan:
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To go on the register, a person gives a small blood sample and fills in a medical questionnaire to assess whether they would be acceptable as a bone marrow donor. For example, a person cannot be a bone marrow donor if he or she suffers from hepatitis or another disease that would affect any patient who was to receive their bone marrow. Once a blood sample has been taken, we tissue-type the person in our laboratories, which means that we work out to whom the bone marrow could be donated. The person's details then sit in our database, perhaps for 10 or 20 years.When a physician says that a patient needs a bone marrow transplant, the patient is tissue-typed and we find out whether the tissue type matches that of a donor on our register. If so, we contact the donor and explain that there is a match. We then take another blood sample to ensure that we typed the donor correctly and that they are still physically capable of undergoing a bone marrow transplant. If they are, the patient goes into the bone marrow transplant routine, which involves counselling and medicals to ensure that the person is fit enough to undergo the procedure.The donor can undergo one of two procedures. One is the old-fashioned method, by which the donor is put under general anaesthetic. Needles are stuck into the back of the hip bone and the marrow is sucked out and put into a bag. The bag is then taken to the hospital where the patient is being treated—the donor and the patient are treated in separate hospitals—to be infused into the patient, who will have been conditioned by having their bone marrow system destroyed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. With good luck, the donated marrow then takes on its role in the patient.That method uses needles in the hip bone. The alternative method is to give the donor a hormone called granulocyte colony stimulating factor, or G-CSF, which puts stem cells from the donor's bone marrow into their blood stream. The donor receives a course of injections that lasts for about a week, after which stem cells are collected by extracting blood through a needle in one of the donor's arms and passing the blood through a machine that spins down the stem cells. The remaining blood is then returned to the patient's other arm. The advantages of that method are that there is no need for the donor to have a general anaesthetic and that the procedure is less mechanically damaging for the donor, who can go back to work almost immediately afterwards.We give donors the option of choosing one of those two procedures—at the moment the ratio is about 50:50.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Our next petition is PE687, which is on donation of bone marrow and blood stem cells through a bone marrow register. The petition is from Geva Blackett, on b...
Geva Blackett (Millie's Campaign):
Many of you will have heard about Millie's campaign through the media. Twenty-year-old Millie Forbes from Aberdeenshire was originally diagnosed with acute m...
The Convener:
Lab
Would Dr McEwan like to make some introductory comments or just to take questions?
Dr Stephen McEwan (Anthony Nolan Trust):
I could do either, but I would like to put some flesh on the bones of what could be done in Scotland in respect of bone marrow donors.As Geva Blackett mentio...
Mike Watson:
Lab
In the statement that you submitted to the committee, you say:"Currently the Nolan's total Register size is 345,719, of which some 7% live in Scotland."Scotl...
Dr McEwan:
One of the trust's aims is for the UK to be represented fully on the register. It is interesting that over the past year we have recruited on to the register...
Mike Watson:
Lab
It is encouraging that the response from Scotland is being addressed. However, I take the point that a more extensive campaign than the Anthony Nolan Trust c...
Carolyn Leckie:
SSP
Your petition is quite modest in its demands. It is shocking that the Anthony Nolan Trust is wholly reliant on charitable donations and the voluntary donatio...
Dr McEwan:
The UK has three registers: the Anthony Nolan Trust register, which was formed back in the mid-1970s; the National Blood Service register, which I think cove...
Carolyn Leckie:
SSP
Does the Anthony Nolan Trust fund the whole process, including harvesting?
Dr McEwan:
In effect, the harvesting of marrow from our donors is charged to the national health service. That charge covers—for want of a better term—the variable cost...
Carolyn Leckie:
SSP
I have one other detailed question about recruitment of donors, which is an important issue. Because the NHS system is based on blood donors, who tend to be ...
Dr McEwan:
Both organisations have a role. There is no doubt that blood donors make good bone marrow donors—they like having needles stuck into them, they are used to t...
Linda Fabiani:
SNP
The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Executive to take certain actions. Has the trust approached the Executive, or is the petition the f...
Dr McEwan:
The petition is our first point of contact, in this forum. We have started to find out whether there is any interest in the Scottish system but, in effect, t...
John Farquhar Munro:
LD
I want to get my mind round what is involved. You say that you want to compile a register—no doubt a register already exists, but you want to extend it. If a...
Dr McEwan:
To go on the register, a person gives a small blood sample and fills in a medical questionnaire to assess whether they would be acceptable as a bone marrow d...
John Farquhar Munro:
LD
I am sure that the campaign is gathering momentum, not least because of public awareness of Millie's campaign. However, a campaign would need to inform poten...
Dr McEwan:
There is a balance to be struck between explaining to potential donors how easy it is to join the register by undergoing a very simple procedure to give a bl...
The Convener:
Lab
What action do members think the committee should take?
Mike Watson:
Lab
I note that two and a half years ago, in response to a question that was asked in Parliament, the then Minister for Health and Community Care said that the E...
The Convener:
Lab
The recommendation is that we ask the Executive to tell us what it is doing.
Carolyn Leckie:
SSP
I agree that we should make that request to the Executive, but the petitioner has raised broader issues by asking for recognition and support to be given to ...
Mike Watson:
Lab
My proposal was intended to be a first step. When we have a response from the Executive, we can address issues such as the one that Carolyn Leckie raised.
Linda Fabiani:
SNP
When we ask the Executive the question that Mike Watson outlined, we should also enclose a copy of the petition and ask the Executive to comment on it. That ...
The Convener:
Lab
I think that that would happen as a matter of course. Are members happy with the recommendation?Members indicated agreement.