NKF Campaigns Zone:
Transplantation & Live Donors

A Transplant Manifesto — MORE TRANSPLANTS, SAVING MORE LIVES

Foreward to the Report, by Dr. Evan Harris MP

Successfully transplanting human organs was one of the biggest medical advances of the twentieth century. Put simply, a transplant can transform a person’s life. For kidney patients it can improve their quality of health, increase their life expectancy and free them and their family of the burden of regular dialysis. Kidney transplantation is now the preferred treatment for patients with established renal failure. Survival rates for renal transplants have doubled in the last decade.

But too few transplant operations take place in the UK. The availability of organs (from live or deceased donors) is far below the level of demand. Although there are between 15-30 organ donations per million residents in western countries there is still a shortage of organs, especially in the UK where rates are relatively low. Waiting lists continue to grow and every year patients die while waiting for an organ.

In the UK 1,799 renal transplants were performed in the 12 months to 31st March 2006, representing less than one in three of the patients waiting for a donor kidney.

Transplantation is better for the patient. Furthermore transplantation is cheaper than dialysis. Increasing transplantation rates would therefore be an all round win.

That is why the All-Party Parliamentary Kidney Group has always had a particular focus on transplantation and we make no apology for it. It is obvious that the Government shares our interests and it too has been active in the area. It produced Saving Lives, Valuing Donors – a framework for England in July 2003, a National Service Framework in January 2004 and the Human Tissue Act in 2004. However, although it is early days there is still no sign of any significant increase in transplant rates.

Many in the renal community felt that an opportunity to move to an opt-out system of donation was missed in the Human Tissue Act 2004. Nevertheless there were significant changes made some of which hold out hope for improvement. Time will tell but for those waiting that time comes at a cost.

That is why the All Party Group felt it was useful to hold a summit and produce this manifesto. We do not claim that it is comprehensive, but we do feel that it identifies many of the current constraints and challenges facing the field. As MPs we will use it as a basis to question, debate with and challenge the Government and we hope it will also be a useful reference for clinicians and patients.

Thanks are due to the clinicians, patients, officials and volunteers who contributed to this process, and to my parliamentary colleagues for their interest. I would like to express my particular gratitude to the NKF for their continued support for the Group and especially to Tim Statham for his hard work and patience in working on the Summit and this document.

When we revisit transplantation in detail, we hope to see that this manifesto has been delivered.

Dr Evan Harris MP
Co-Chair, All Party Parliamentary Kidney Group

Click here for a full copy of the ‘Transplant Manifesto’ Report (PDF, 22 pages, 160 Kb)