Listen
Health Secretary supports ECMO increase
15/06/2010
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that an increase in the amount of ECMO (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) treatment would benefit Scottish patients.
A Scottish Government report, published today confirms that adult respiratory ECMO, used when a patient has a serious condition that prevents lungs or heart working normally, is clinically effective and that the need for this treatment is likely to grow.
The report will inform work underway at a UK level to understand more about treatments for respiratory failure, including ECMO. The Chair of Scotland's Expert Group is involved and the findings, expected in the autumn, will shape how this growing need can best be met in future.
The H1N1 pandemic increased the demand for the experimental treatment which uses an artificial lung to oxygenate the blood outside the body.
Ms Sturgeon said:
"The Scottish Government's Expert Group has confirmed that ECMO is safe and effective.
"We can expect greater demand for this treatment in the future so I am delighted that Scotland's expertise is contributing to vital work now underway in the UK to make sure patients who might need ECMO in the future have access to it.
"Should the UK research support increased provision, I would encourage Scottish health boards to bid to offer this service.
"In the meantime, Scottish patients who could benefit from this highly specialised treatment will have access to it through the arrangements which worked so well during the swine flu pandemic."
Respiratory ECMO for children has already been proved to be effective and is already available in Scotland at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow.
On October 29, 2009, UK Health Ministers agreed to temporarily increase capacity at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, based on the recommendations of the UK Critical Care Group. An additional four beds were also commissioned temporarily at the Royal Brompton and Papworth Hospitals in England.
Following the successful treatment with respiratory ECMO of Ms Sharon Pentleton, from Ayr, at the ECMO centre in Sweden, the Cabinet Secretary for Health & Wellbeing announced on September 25 the establishment of an Expert Group to consider in detail the future medium and long term provision of respiratory ECMO treatment for adults in Scotland.