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NHS organ and tissue transplants enable about 3,000 people to pursue an active life in the UK every year. Transplants are the best possible treatment for most people with organ failure.
On 29 March 2010, Ministers announced a change of UK-wide policy to enable people to inform transplant teams of their wishes for the allocation, after their death, of one of their, or their loved ones organs to a family member or close friend in need of a transplant and who would meet the requirements to be considered for a transplant. Priority will still be given to those in urgent need, for example, on the heart or liver super urgent lists, where clinically appropriate and consent to donation must never be conditional on the requested allocation going ahead. However, a request for an organ to be given to a family member or close friend will be considered if there is no one else on the super urgent list who is a compatible match. Cases of requested allocation of a deceased donor organ are likely to be very few in number – perhaps a handful a year.
Guidance for coroners and donor coordinators working with coroners to encourage the development of local protocols to optimise organ donation has also been published. This guidance was a recommendation in the Organ Donation Taskforce Report published in 2008 and has been developed with a number of stakeholders including the Ministry of Justice, Human Tissue Authority, NHS Blood and Transplant, coroners and the transplant community.
The independent UK Donation Ethics Committee, established under the chairmanship of Sir Peter Simpson, past President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, met for the first time on 9 February 2010.
Recommendation 3 of the Organs for Transplants report recommended the establishment of a single authoritative forum in which the ethical issues surrounding organ donation. The UKDEC is hosted by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges so that it is separate from the UK Departments of Health and the NHS.
For more information about the committee and its membership, read the AOMRC press release
If you have any thoughts about the questions and issues that the UKDEC should address, or how it should interact with stakeholders you should contact Dr Helen Lovell, Secretary to the UKDEC by email
The Department of Health's view of the legal position in relation to the action that can be lawfully taken prior to death to support non-heartbeating donation, produced in response to Recommendation 3 of the Organ Donation Taskforce Report which states that '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'. The intention is that those working in this area will be able to use it do draw up more detailed guidance to support clinical practice. This guidance is only applicable in England and Wales.
At NHSBT we are doing everything with one focus - to save or improve the lives of thousands of people every year through organ transplantation.
The HTA regulates the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue from the living and deceased.
