UK National Kidney Federation - Kidney Donation Conference, York, 5 May 2000

The role of Community Health Councils in increasing organ donation was the central theme of a conference held at York Racecourse in May.

It arose from a report by Dr Iain Smith of the Nuffield Institute on Strategies to improve organ availability which he had presented to the Regional Association for CHCs in March 1999.

Dr Smith said that demand for renal treatment, inspired by a an increased willingness of other clinicians to refer patients to kidney specialists and the increased prevalence of conditions such as diabetes in Asian men, will increase by 10 per cent every year up to 2015. Donation is not marketed strongly enough in this country and the donor card system is unimpressive.

Professor Alex Davison, of Leeds Hospitals NHS Trust, said that improved technology had contributed to the growth in demand. He highlighted the limitations to transplantation as a lack of awareness, lack of resources and religious and cultural beliefs. He cited the recent conference in Bradford which had addressed these issues, and praised the Birmingham programme for Asian patients.

Deborah Duval, who has described her experiences as a renal patient in the NKF website, discussed many possible strategies for increasing donation of organs. She called for an improvement in the early detection of End Stage Renal Failure (ESRF) – particularly of diabetes – better education of patients, a national services framework for renal services and an increase in medical staff and resources, particularly transplant surgeons and ITU beds. Opt out had worked in Belgium but the UK had a very different social make-up. The Spanish system of co-ordinators in every hospital was promising. Live donation should be encouraged, and other means of replacing organs should be researched.

Workshops came up with a wide range of possible strategies. Some dealt with how CHCs could intervene, by targeting Health Authorities. Other suggestions were for kidney patients themselves to talk about their experiences and promote the concept of transplantation.

Summing up, Professor Davison said that the medical profession as not aware of the power and strength of CHCs and should enlist their support. Dr Mike Ward, a Newcastle consultant, said that the ideas produced for improvements were excellent.

A full report can be obtained form Colin Perry, Chief Officer, Leeds Community Health Council, 3-4 Templar Street, Leeds LS2 7NU.

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Report of Kidney Donation Conference, 5 May 2000, in York