News Release
13th July 2011
£4 million investment in NHS stem cell services
The Government today announced a £4m investment in NHS stem cell services.
This funding will enable NHS Blood and Transplant and Anthony Nolan (www.anthonynolan.org/) to work together to increase UK cord blood collection and expand and improve adult stem cell donor registers.
It will see stem cell donors and potential recipients matched far more quickly than in the past and aims to reduce average search times down to two weeks, which is estimated will save on average one life per month.
Lynda Hamlyn, Chief Executive of NHS Blood and Transplant, said:
“This investment by Government will help increase the number
of stem cell samples collected and, equally important, reduce
the waiting time for patients to find a suitable match. Both of
these will help us in our mission to save more lives and improve
the life chances of others.”
The project includes three main elements:
• NHS Blood and Transplant and Anthony Nolan will bring their
bone marrow registries together by aligning their databases.
Between them, they already provide access to over 700,000 adult
donors in the UK. Consolidating them will speed up donor
searches and therefore matches of potential donors and
recipients;
• A £1.9m contract between the Department of Health and Anthony
Nolan, with the charity becoming the single contact point for
all NHS transplant units looking for a suitably matched adult
donor or stem cell unit. The contract will help to establish a
“fit panel” of 20,000 young adult donors to further reduce the
time it takes to find a suitable match for transplant; and
• NHS Blood and Transplant and Anthony Nolan will also receive
£2 million to increase collection services at its five umbilical
cord blood collections sites to a 24/7 service. They will also
be opening a new collection facility towards the end of the
year. This will see the NHS Cord Blood Bank, already one of the
largest in the world, grow from 17,000 to 35,000 processed and
stored units.
Public Health Minister Anne Milton said:
“This new collaboration between NHS Blood and Transplant and the
Anthony Nolan is excellent news. We know that the quicker we
match potential donors to recipients, the more lives can be
saved.
“This extra £4 million will help to save the lives of many more
people who need bone marrow transplants. I look forward to
seeing this project make a real difference to patients.”
Anthony Nolan Chief Executive Henny Braund said:
“The collaboration is great news. For a patient with a blood
cancer waiting for a stem cell transplant, every minute counts
and everything we can do to reduce that time is vital. Today’s
announcement marks a major step forward to achieving our goal of
helping every patient who needs a stem cell transplant.”
Learn more about the work of the
UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum
For further information contact:
- Department of Health Newsdesk on 020 7210 5221
- NHSBT press office on 0117 969 2444 or at
pressoffice@nhsbt.nhs.uk or out of hours on 07659 133583
- Anthony Nolan: Tracey Sands or Victoria Moffett on 020 7424
6619 or 020 7284 8233.