§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on donor shortage; and what he proposes to do to increase the number of donors available. [77158]
§ Mr. Lammy[holding answer 29 October 2002]: There is a world-wide shortage of organs for transplantation. There are a number of reasons for this not least that there is a welcome reduction in the numbers of people dying in circumstances in which organ donation would have been possible, for example, the decreasing number of fatal road accidents and improvements in neurological surgery.
We are taking specific action to increase the number of donors available by investing in initiatives to raise public awareness and the benefits of organ transplantation, particularly in the ethnic minority populations where there may be a greater need for transplantation, implementing measures to help ensure that potential donors are identified and that we increase the use of both living and non-heartbeating donation. Nearly £4 million is being invested in the national health service through United Kingdom transplant to boost the number of life-saving organ transplants. This is funding 35 donor liaison schemes to improve procedures for identifying possible organ donors and the steps to take so that relatives are approached and given the opportunity to decide about donation. It is also supporting 25 living donation programmes, 10 additional transplant co-ordinators and six non-heartbeating donor programmes.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many organ transplants have been made in each year since 1997; how many people have died waiting for organ transplants in that time; and for what organs they were waiting. [77159]
§ Mr. Lammy[holding answer 29 October 2002]: The number of organ transplants in each year since 1997, the number of people dying waiting for a transplant and the organ they were waiting for is shown in the table.
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Dying on waiting list Kidney 284 304 290 286 249 Cardiothoracic organ 175 161 163 122 100 Liver 73 86 75 66 65 Total dying on waiting list 532 551 528 474 414 Transplants All organs 2,779 2,674 2,695 2,709 2,717