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NEWS RELEASE Making organ donation usual rather than unusual in Northern Ireland In Northern Ireland over 230 people are currently waiting for organ donation. With this in mind, the Public Health Agency has organised a seminar, Organ donation in Northern Ireland: making it usual rather than unusual, for senior health professionals to look in detail at this emotive issue and to develop an action plan to significantly increase organ donation here. Currently in the UK, 10,000 people need organ donation and sadly 1,000 of these people will die before an organ becomes available. The UK has one of the lowest organ donation rates in Western Europe with 13 donors per million of the population compared to Spain which has the highest rate at 35 donors per million. The Organ Donation Taskforce, established in 2006 to improve donor rates, produced national recommendations aimed at increasing organ donation by at least 50% across the UK by 2013. This would result in an additional 1,200 organs a year. Dr Eddie Rooney, Chief Executive of the Public Health Agency , said: “Key staff who are involved in or who have an influence on organ donation are here today to plan, prioritise and coordinate action that will ultimately make organ donation a usual rather than unusual occurrence. This would significantly increase the number of people on the organ donation register in Northern Ireland. Currently, around 1 in 4 adults in Northern Ireland are on the register which in itself is very significant. But that also highlights the fact that nearly three quarters of the population is not on the register, so we have some way to go. It is essential that we make people aware of the importance of organ donation and encourage them to seriously consider giving this generous gift to those who desperately need it.” Presenting at the seminar Dr Paul Glover, Clinical Lead Organ Donation, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, said: “Having previously had the highest organ donation rate in the UK, Northern Ireland now has one of the lowest donation rates across the UK regions. The number of organ donors here has been falling and the reality is that for every five people who receive a transplant each year, one person on the waiting list will die. Northern Ireland now has one of the lowest consent rates for solid organ donation in the UK with only 55% of families consenting to organ donation after death. Therefore, important areas we will look at today are firstly, how can we increase the rate of consent for organ donation, and secondly, how can we ensure that more families are offered the option of organ donation.” Mr Chris Rudge, National Clinical Director for Transplantation, Department of Health, London, said: “We are all more likely to need a transplant than to become a donor. Recent medical advances now mean that procedures such as heart and liver transplants, as well as kidney transplants, are almost routine, allowing many people to live normal lives through the gift of organ donation. Organ transplants are very successful and save or transform thousands of lives every year. However, the biggest threat to this success is the shortage of donors. When someone signs up as a donor the most important thing they can do is share this decision with their closest relatives. If family members are aware that their loved one wanted to give the gift of life after their death, the decision to honour this wish becomes very much easier and can give comfort to the family at a tragic time. Without this, time will run out for other people in desperate need.”
As part of the drive to increase the number of organ donors, NHS Blood and Transplant have an online campaign, Wall of life, which people can visit and if they wish, register as a donor online. By visiting www.walloflife.org.uk a person can register their details and upload their photo onto a mosaic pixel wall which will contribute to the final image of a toddler, Louisa McGregor-Smith, who received the gift of life at five months. If anyone would like to register to become a donor they should contact 0300 123 23 23 and do so today. - ENDS - Notes to the editor: A number of speakers attending the seminar will be available for interview on Wednesday 4 November at 11:00am. Contact PHA Press Office to arrange. This event is funded by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. The 14 recommendations highlighted by the Organ Donation Taskforce are listed: 1. A UK-wide Organ Donation Organisation should be established. 2. The establishment of the Organ Donation Organisation should be the responsibility of NHSBT. 3. Urgent attention is required to resolve outstanding legal, ethical and professional issues in order to ensure that all clinicians are supported and are able to work within a clear and unambiguous framework of good practice. Additionally, an independent UK-wide Donation Ethics Group should be established. 4. All parts of the NHS must embrace organ donation as a usual, not an unusual, event. Local policies, constructed around national guidelines, should be put in place. Discussions about donation should be part of all end-of-life care, when appropriate. Each Trust should have an identified Clinical Donation Champion and a Trust Donation Committee to help achieve this. 5. Minimum notification criteria for potential organ donors should be introduced on a UK-wide basis. These criteria should be reviewed after 12 months in the light of evidence of their effect, and the comparative impact of more detailed criteria should also be assessed. 6. Donation activity in all Trusts should be monitored. Rates of potential donor identification, referral, and approach to family and consent to donation should be reported. The Trust Donation Committee should report to the Trust Board through the Clinical Governance process and the Medical Director, and the reports should be part of the assessment of Trusts through the relevant healthcare regulator. Benchmark data from other Trusts should be made available for comparison. 7. Brain stem death testing should be carried out in all patients where brain stem death is a likely diagnosis even if organ donation is an unlikely outcome. 8. Financial disincentives to Trusts facilitating donation should be removed through the development and introduction of appropriate reimbursement. 9. The current network of donor transplant coordinators should be expanded and strengthened through central employment by a UK-wide Organ Donation Organisation. Additional coordinators, embedded within critical care areas, should be employed to ensure a comprehensive highly skilled, specialised and robust service. There should be a close and defined collaboration between donor coordinators, clinical staff and Trust Donation Champions. Electronic on-line donor registration and organ offering systems should be developed. 10. A UK-wide network of dedicated Organ Retrieval Teams should be established to ensure timely, high quality organ removal from all heart beating and non-heart beating donors. The Organ Donation Organisation should be responsible for commissioning the retrieval teams and for audit and performance management. 11. All clinical staff likely to be involved in the treatment of potential organ donors should receive mandatory training in the principles of donation. There should also be regular update training. 12. Appropriate ways should be identified of personally and publicly recognising individual organ donors, where desired. These may include national memorials, local initiatives and personal follow-up to donor families. 13. There is an urgent requirement to identify and implement the most effective methods through which organ donation and the ‘gift of life’ can be promoted to the general public, and specifically to the black and minority ethnic population. Research should be commissioned through Department of Health Research and Development funding. 14. The Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice should develop formal guidelines for coroners concerning organ donation. For further information Contact the PHA Press Office, Ormeau Avenue, on 028 9031 1611. |
