Cash injection to boost transplants

Dozens of hospitals are to share a £4 million cash injection designed to boost the number of life-saving organ transplant operations as part of the Government's commitment to double the number of organ donors.

UK Transplant today allocated the new investment announced by Secretary of State Alan Milburn at the Organ & Tissue Transplant Summit held earlier this year.

The special funding will pay for extra medical and nursing staff over the next three years to ensure that more families are given the opportunity to consider organ donation.

The additional staff include donor liaison sisters/charge nurses at 21 hospitals with intensive therapy units and 11 full and part-time donor transplant co-ordinators at a further ten centres.

Ten trusts have also been granted funding to encourage more living donor kidney transplants -- where a kidney is donated to a patient on the kidney transplant waiting list by a close family member or even a partner.

Sue Sutherland, chief executive of UK Transplant, explained: "Transplant surgery is a proven life-saver and is becoming increasingly successful with more than 80% of patients surviving for more than a year after their operation. Transplants can offer long-term survival and a high quality of life for increasing numbers of patients.

"Organ donation is the only current way to save such patient's lives -- and organ shortage is the main limitation".

Health Minister Jacqui Smith said: "We are determined to improve transplant services across the country and increase the number of transplants carried out. Our goal is to increase the number of people on the organ donor register to 16 million by 2010.

"The £4m we awarded to UK Transplant being allocated today will start providing the extra medical and nursing staff needed to both give families the chance to consider organ donation and help co-ordinate transplants across the country.

"I am delighted that UK Transplant has made progress so quickly and we look forward to some real improvements over the next year or two."

The expertise of surgeons, development of immunosuppressive drugs and intensive care nursing has meant that more patients can be considered for treatment in this way - but improved road safety and medical advances have actually decreased the number of donors available.

There are currently more than 5,500 people waiting for kidney, heart, pancreas, lung or liver transplants but only about 2,500 transplants are being carried out each year. Although research shows that 70% of people support organ donation and that -- when asked -- 74% of relatives consent to donation, many families are not asked.

The 21 donor liaison sisters/charge nurses will be based in intensive therapy units and will provide the liaison between the treating team and the donor transplant co-ordinators. They will be responsible -- with consultant support -- for ensuring that ITU and other staff within their hospital are aware of the procedures for identifying possible donors and the appropriate steps to take so that relatives are approached and given the opportunity to decide for themselves.

Families are only asked to consider organ donation when all attempts to save the patient's life have failed.

The donor transplant co-ordinators are experts on who can be a donor and are skilled at approaching/counselling families. They carefully explain the whole process of organ donation, can answer any questions and provide immediate and follow up support for donor families.

Mrs Sutherland added: "This will undoubtedly increase the number of potential donated organs. At the moment a third of relatives actually approach hospital staff and raise the issue of donation themselves, but not all hospital staff are aware of what steps they should take to carry out their wishes.

"If a person has made it clear during their lifetime that they would be willing to give their organs to help other people then we have a duty to make sure that their wishes are carried out and that no potential donor is excluded because their relatives have not been asked.

"We know from past experience and research that families can feel comforted through the knowledge that they have given hope to others. Donation may be the one positive thing that can come out of an otherwise tragic situation and the family should always be given this option."

Last year saw the first increase in the number of organ transplants carried out in the UK for five years. The Government has pledged to double the transplant rate for kidneys by 2005; increase the number of heart, lung and liver transplants by at least 10% by 2005; and to increase the number of people on the organ donor register to 16m by 2010. UK Transplant is playing a key role in delivering this remit.

To be a donor you need to let your family and close friends know your wishes and to join the register, either by calling 0845 60 60 400 or enrolling on-line at www.nhs.uk/organdonor

UK Transplant is planning to fund a further 14 donor liaison schemes in 2003.

Hospitals to receive funding are:

(Donor Transplant Co-ordinators)

• Belfast City Hospital, Belfast
• Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry
• Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool
• Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester
• Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• North Thames Regional Transplant Co-ordinators Office, London
• Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham
• St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth
• Northern General Hospital, Sheffield
• South Thames Transplant Co-ordination Service, London

(Donor Liaison Sisters/Charge Nurses)

• Gloucestershire Royal and East Gloucestershire NHS Trust
• North Bristol Healthcare Trust
• Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals NHS Trust, Reading
• Salisbury Health Care NHS Trust
• Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust, Truro
• Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
• East Kent Hospital NHS Trust, Canterbury
• Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London
• Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford
• University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, London
• North Glamorgan NHS Trust, Merthyr Tydfil
• The Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust, Belfast
• The Royal Group of Hospitals and Dental Hospital Health and Social Services Trust, Belfast
• Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
• Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, Farnworth, Bolton
• South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust
• South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, Middlesborough
• North Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust, Stoke-on-Trent
• South Glasgow University Hospitals Trust
• Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust, Edinburgh
• Living donor programmeRoyal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
• North Bristol NHS Trust
• Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust
• Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust, Edinburgh
• St Mary's NHS Trust, London
• Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, NHS Trust
• Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust, London
• Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
• Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust
• Addenbrooke's Hospital NHS Trust, Cambridge

Background information

• Last year 484 people died while waiting for a transplant. One in 10 died while waiting for a heart transplant.
• Kidneys, hearts, livers, lungs, pancreata, corneas, heart valves, bone, skin, small bowels and connective tissues such as ligaments, veins and cartilage can all be donated. Skin can be used to help people with serious burns and bones to help patients with multiple fractures and in orthopaedic surgery.
• Last year saw the first increase in the number of organs transplanted since 1995 -- mainly due to the increasing number of living donors.
• Living donations are nearly always between close relatives, ie parent and child or siblings. Blood group compatibility and tissue type matches give a higher possibility of success. The most common organ used for live donation is a kidney but part of a liver, lung, small bowel or bone marrow can also be transplanted.
• Although approximately 70% of people support organ donation, only about 15% have enrolled on the organ donor register. That's why it is so important for people to let their family and friends know of their wishes. Transplant co-ordinators say it is virtually unheard of for relatives to refuse permission if they knew that their loved one wanted their organs to be used to save other people's lives.

Return to top of page