Assembly Committee: Wales needs more organ donors but not presumed consent

The Assembly’s Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee today called for early action to improve the number of organs available for transplant in Wales but has rejected calls for legislation aimed at introducing presumed consent for organ donation.  

The Committee has carried out an inquiry into presumed consent, which found that much more can and needs to be done to improve organ donation rates in Wales.  But, the Committee agreed that moves to legislate on presumed consent in Wales could distract from other action that is likely to make more of an impact and should be a more urgent priority.

The Committee’s report, published today, says:

“The most urgent and productive steps for improving donation rates rest with the early implementation in Wales of the UK Organ Donation Task Force (ODTF) recommendations. We do not rule out introducing presumed consent in Wales at some point in the future.  However, we do not believe that it is currently the most urgent priority and believe that it could be a distraction from other more productive actions.”

The report makes a number of recommendations:

• If presumed consent is introduced in the UK it should be the so called “soft” version, where loved ones are consulted and their views taken into account.

• A comprehensive training programme should be developed for healthcare professionals to ensure that the ODTF recommendations are implemented properly.

• Transplant capacity within Wales should be reviewed to see if it can be expanded further, including the viability of facilities located in other parts of Wales as well as Cardiff.

• The Assembly Government should consider increasing the number of intensive or critical care facilities in Wales to help increase the number of organs available for transplant.

Jonathan Morgan AM, Chair of the Committee, said: “Asking grieving people for their consent to remove part of their loved ones, even if it is to save the life of another, is not an easy task.  So I can see the attraction of presumed consent.  Unfortunately, whatever its attractions, it’s not a silver bullet.  

The country with the best record on organ donation is Spain.  There, although they have a presumed consent law, the family always has to give consent.  Success in Spain has been built on solid organisational changes in the health service, good training, particularly how to approach grieving loved ones, and a philosophy that makes organ donation everyone’s responsibility, not just transplant co-ordinators.”  

The report also says there should be consistent and regular public awareness campaigns on organ donation and praises the recent Donate Wales – Tell a Loved One campaign, which features the likes of James Hook, Connie Fisher and Colin Jackson.  

Jonathan Morgan said: “The Tell a Loved One Campaign appears to be a great success – over 9,000 new donors have signed up to the Organ Donor Register since the campaign started.  However, it’s important that we build on its success and keep the momentum going. “

The Report also calls on the Assembly Government to make sure that UK Transplant, the organisation responsible for promoting organ donation and the Organ Donor Register, has a clear focus on Wales and Welsh issues.

Jonathan Morgan said: “We heard a number of criticisms that UK Transplant is not responsive to Welsh needs.  We were particularly concerned to be told that the organ donation consent form for relatives was not available in Welsh despite requests being made.  The Assembly Government needs to get a grip on this.  UK Transplant receives over £560,000 from the Assembly Government yet the Minister and officials were not aware of this when they gave evidence to us.”

Notes

1.Presumed consent means that instead of having to opt-in to organ donation, by carrying a donor card or joining the organ donor register, you would have to opt-out by registering that you don’t want your organs used.

2.The Organ Donation Task Force (ODTF) was set up by the UK Government in 2006 with the following terms of reference:

• To identify barriers to organ donation and transplantation and recommend solutions within existing operational and legal frameworks.

• To identify barriers to any part of the transplant process and recommend ways to overcome.

3.The ODTF report contains 14 recommendations which they estimate could lead to a 50% increase in the number of organ donations across the UK.