Most families take organ donor option when offered

The Health Ministry said in a briefing to the health committee on the effectiveness and cost of dedicated organ donor registries that 55 per cent of families consented to organ donation when offered the option in the unit.

However, only 44 per cent of people ticked "donor" on their driver's licence application forms - New Zealand's only official register of donors.

"Families often override an individual's decision to donate," the ministry said.

Since 1993 the New Zealand donor rate has fluctuated between 34 and 46 donors a year but about 350 people are on waiting lists for organ transplants, mostly for kidneys. People can wait up to 30 months for an organ.

The ministry also found the rate of consent by New Zealand families was similar to other comparable countries; a recent United States study found the consent rate was 54 per cent.

The ministry has conducted public meetings to discuss its review of rules governing the use of human tissue, including the concept of presumed consent for organ donation. It would make all New Zealanders donors unless they officially opted out.

The option is one of five considered by the review as a way of boosting New Zealand's low organ donation rates. Other options included making the decision to become a donor legally binding and requiring all New Zealanders to make a choice.

Ministry sector policy directorate deputy director-general Gillian Durham said the review would not be completed until next June - a statement met with dismay by many committee members.

"Surely there is a way to speed up the process," National MP Paul Hutchison said.

However, Dr Durham said trying to speed it up could make the situation worse as agreement was needed on the best way to increase organ donation.

Eleven European countries have organ donor registers. Spain, which has the highest organ donor rate, does not have a register but has organ donation co-ordinators in each hospital who actively persuade families to consent.

Australia established a national donor registry in 2000 and had faced several issues around data collection.

"The vast majority of those currently on the register had their names transferred from state transport authority databases," the ministry said.

"However, where states allowed people to register objections to donation, this information was not transferred.

"Many concerns have been raised about the accuracy, validity and ethical acceptability of the data in the Australian register."

The ministry's deputy director general Colin Feek said until a New Zealand system was decided upon, the best thing New Zealanders could do was talk to their families about their wishes.