§ Sir Michael McNair-WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made to establish the United Kingdom tranplant service as a special health authority.
§ Mr. DorrellRegulations to establish the new authority, with effect from 1 April 1991, were laid before Parliament on 8 March 1991.
I am pleased to confirm that Dr. John Evans, previously a deputy chief medical officer and administrative deputy secretary in the former Department of Health and Social Security, has accepted an invitation to be chairman of the new authority, which will be known as the United Kingdom Transplant Support Service Authority (UKTSSA).
The members of the authority will be:
- Professor Peter Morris, Nuffield Professor of Surgery at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, with an international reputation in the transplant world;
- Professor Richard Batchelor, Professor of Immunology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, who has been a major figure in the development of transplantation immunity;
- Mr. Trevor Rippington, an ex-regional treasurer of South-West Regional Health Authority, and
- Mr. John Thornton, business manager for Praxis plc of Bath.
The new authority will, for the time being, be based at the Southmead hospital in Bristol which is currently the location of the United Kingdom transplant service.
497WI hope that these new arrangements will facilitate improvement of the United Kingdom's already excellent record on organ transplantation. We have around 8,000 patients with a functioning kidney graft.
In 1989, 1,732 cadaveric kidney transplants were performed in the United Kingdom; 295 heart transplants, and a similar number of liver transplants. A further 94 heart/lung transplants were carried out.
Transplantation of organs has been one of the great medical advances of the last 25 years. Operations not long ago considered to be in the realm of fantasy are today a matter of routine.
The Government are totally committed to the organ transplant programme, and increasing the supply of donor organs for transplantation is one of our priorities.