Task force plan to lift organ donor rates

Published on Sunday 9 December 2007 01:05

MINISTERS are considering major changes to Britain's crisis-hit organ donation system that could improve transplant rates by 50%.

A group of experts has recommended increasing the number of transplant coordinators and improving hospital intensive care facilities. The UK's Organ Donation Task Force believes these measures could see annual donor numbers rise from 1,500 to 2,250.

Their report, which outlines ways to improve the nation's low organ donation rate, has been sent to ministers. It suggests making improvements to hospital facilities that have already been made in other European countries, including Spain, which has a far higher donation rate than the UK.

Last night, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland would play a "crucial role" in the plan to drive up the number of donors by 50% over the next five years. She also urged members of the public to sign up to the organ donor register.

Sturgeon said: "Despite the fact that 29% of the population now have their names on the Organ Donor Register, Scotland's donation rate is still one of the lowest in the EU.

"The shortage of donor organs for transplantation is an increasingly acute problem and we are determined to tackle this. I want everyone to seriously consider signing up to the register.

"I share the Organ Donation Task Force's view that we can increase the number of organ donors by 50%, and Scotland will play a crucial part in achieving this."

Sturgeon also said she wanted to encourage a wide public debate on the issue of presumed consent for organ donation. She added: "I am increasingly sympathetic towards the idea of introducing a system of presumed consent for organ donation and I welcome the fact that the task force is now considering the risks and benefits of this approach.

"Making the decision to become an organ donor really can save lives and we are encouraging everyone to make the personal commitment to sign up to the organ donor register."

The Organ Donation Task Force will now turn its attention to examining how a system of presumed consent could be introduced in the UK.

This would allow doctors to take organs from a deceased without the need for them to have given their explicit consent during their lifetime. Organs could be taken to be used to save the lives of other patients unless the deceased's relatives specifically objected. It will publish its decision next year.

Surveys reveal public support for a system of presumed consent, backed by the British Medical Association and this newspaper, is growing.

Up to 500 patients a year die waiting for a transplant. In Spain, which has adopted presumed consent and has also implemented huge improvements to the transplant coordinator service, organ donation rates are 33.6 organs per million of population compared with only 13 per million in the UK.

There are currently 7,609 patients waiting for transplants.