Gillian Merron, public health minister, has asked NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) to lead a team of experts in creating a new 10-year strategy for the provision of blood stem cells, including those from cord blood to fight leukaemias and other blood disorders.
The group will carry out the first UK-wide, review to ensure blood stem cells from adult donors or cord blood are available for patients requiring transplants. The strategic review will bring together the UK’s leading experts and organisations working in this ground-breaking field of science under the leadership of NHSBT. In October 2009, the NHS Cord Blood Bank, one of the world’s most advanced, opened its expanded state-of-the-art storage facility at Filton, Bristol. The NHS Cord Blood Bank is the fourth largest in the world with 14,500 donations available for therapeutic use; NHSBT will be increasing the bank to 20,000 donations by 2013.
