Private Organ Transplants To Be Banned

The government is set to ban private transplants of organs from dead donors in the UK.

The announcement follows the publication of a report into organ transplants for NHS patients and non-UK residents by Elisabeth Buggins, former Chair of the Organ Donation Taskforce.

The report was commissioned by former Health Secretary Alan Johnson in March following concerns about the numbers of organs from deceased UK donors being transplanted into non-UK resident EU nationals each year.

More than 700 transplants, mostly liver transplants, have been carried out on non-UK patients over the last ten years, with 631 of those transplants using organs from dead donors. From that number, 314 patients were from outside the EU. it is not known how many of the operations were paid for privately.

Under EU law, however, some patients are eligible to receive treatment in other countries, providing the operation is approved and paid for by their own healthcare system.

More than 3,000 organ transplants take place in the UK every year, but there are currently over 8,000 people waiting for a transplant operation.

The main recommendations of the report were the introduction of a ban on all private clinical practice in the UK involving solid organs donated after death within the NHS and the establishment of an implementation group to monitor transplant referrals from overseas.

The report also recommended the development of a new liver allocation scheme to allow greater transparency into the allocation process and the development of Department of Health guidance for transplant centres to clarify the eligibility criteria for patients from abroad.

Commenting on the report, Elisabeth Buggins said: "This report seeks to make more organs available for UK residents.

"While I found no evidence of wrongdoing in the way organs are allocated to patients, there is a perception that private payments may unfairly influence access to transplant, so they must be banned.

"Confidence in the transplant system should increase once money is removed from the equation, decisions are transparent and accountability clear; confidence we know is necessary if the number of organ donors is to rise to match the best in Europe."

Health Minister Ann Keen said that the government had accepted the report's recommendations and said: "We will now take these forward to ensure a UK system that is fair and transparent and one which patients and potential donors can have trust and confidence in."

She added: "This report highlights the complexity of European law in this area and we will take immediate action to provide guidance for the transplant community and reassure the public of the integrity of our transplant programme."

The report was also welcomed by the British Transplantation Society, which issued a statement which said: "This move will provide further reassurance that priority for a transplant will be given to those patients in greatest need."

The society also welcomed the proposal to clarify the arrangements for the treatment of non-UK patients and said it "would encourage the Secretary of State to pursue this without delay."

(KMcA/BMcC)