The Press Association: 50% rise in organ donations planned

The Press Association: 50% rise in organ donations planned

50% rise in organ donations planned
36 minutes ago

A radical overhaul of the UK's organ donation system is required to boost the number of people given transplants, a report is due to say.

Dedicated teams to retrieve organs 24 hours a day will speed up the process while the number of transplant co-ordinators should be doubled to around 200, it will say.

A taskforce will set out 14 recommendations to the Government which could see a 50% rise in organ donation in the UK within five years.

The controversial issue of presumed consent - which has the backing of Prime Minister Gordon Brown - will not form part of recommendations from the Organ Donation Taskforce. A separate sub-committee has been looking specifically at the issue and will publish its own report in the summer.

Wednesday's study, which is being launched at a press conference with Health Secretary Alan Johnson, sets out the need for dedicated teams to retrieve organs quickly for transplantation.

It says: "At the moment, teams vary in size, composition and level of experience, their funding comes from various sources and is often obscure. Few members of the team are available specifically for organ retrieval with most having other clinical commitments that limit their ability to respond quickly. The teams all rely on significant help from the donor hospital.

"Changes to consultant contracts and the effects of the European Working Time Directive will further erode their viability. In addition, few teams are able to provide early expert assistance to donor hospitals in donor management and this adversely affects the number and quality of organs removed."

The report sets out the need for dedicated teams working together 24 hours a day.

"Currently, specialist teams from several different transplant centres may be required for a single donor and delays in responding to a referral cause distress to the donor's family and impose an extra burden on the intensive care unit," it said. "On occasions the donor's haemodynamic state (ie their blood pressure and other vital signs) becomes unstable, threatening the viability of some or all the organs."

The Government set up the taskforce in December 2006 to look at how organ donation and transplant rates could be improved across the UK.