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UK
Transplant update
Please note, this page is a summary of the full conference speech (click here for the full transcript).
Sue Falvey
Director of Donor Care and Co-ordination at UK Transplant
UK Transplant was given three new responsibilities after their last review, as well as maintaining the national transplant data base and facilitating the allocation of donor organs throughout the country. They were:
- To improve donation and transplant rates throughout the country.
- To establish a national framework for donor transplant co-ordination services.
- To establish an effective communication and public relations system.
The reason for these new responsibilities was the falling donor rates in the UK, one of the lowest in Europe. Spain had the best donor rates in the world, but it was not necessarily the best way to replicate the Spanish system. Driving in Spain was considerably more hazardous than driving in England.
UK Transplant co-ordinator advisory group had decided that they needed 1.66 whole time equivalent (WTE) co-ordinators per million population. UK Transplant had funded ten new co-ordinator posts in the areas that were below the one WTE per million population to bring them up to that level. They had also drawn up a national training policy and were working on a donor family care policy and a national research policy.
She brought up to date the progress on schemes which Chris Rudge had talked about last year. One of these was the donor liaison scheme which was based on the Spanish system of having in-house co-ordinators in virtually every large hospital. They had funded 24 posts out of the 35 and had asked Trusts who didn't have a scheme to bid for one.
They were introducing a national potential donor audit to find out the facts about organ donation and whether all potential donors were identified. The audit itself would raise the profile of donation. UK Transplant had also funded 11 schemes employing a dedicated living donor transplant co-ordinator and would fund a further 12. They had also funded a non-heart beating donor scheme, aiming at funding 15 centres by 2006.
She gave an update on the organ donor register, where the aim was to have between 17 and 20 million names by 2006, with the target of achieving ten million by the end of 2002. The register had not been well accessed because the only people who could refer to it were transplant co-ordinators. Now the critical care unit staff had been allowed to access the register.
"In conclusion we now have Government commitment for organ donation transplantation, because they have set very clear targets for the first time, to double the number of kidney transplants and to increase liver and heart and lung transplants by ten per cent," said Ms Falvey.
"So with continued Government commitment and sustained funding, clearly we need public commitment and willingness for donation programmes, commitment from all in the NHS and UK wide leadership and support. We hope all that equals a successful strategy for improving the number of organ donors and subsequently more transplants and new lives."
Please note, this page is a summary of the full conference speech (click here for the full transcript).
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