Ministers should act now to boost access to life-saving organ transplants - 2010-05-20

Labour MEPs have called on EU governments to act quickly to agree new rules to boost access to life-saving organ transplants.
 
The call from comes after the European Parliament voted on a package of standards to help improve the safety and quality of organs donated across the EU.
 
By establishing these guarantees, the proposed rules should help boost access to a larger pool of organ donations.
 
This would particularly help people looking for a rare match, enabling them to be paired with a donor from another EU country.
 
The EU directive was backed by the European Parliament on Wednesday and now needs to be approved by governments from the EU's 27 member states.
 
Glenis Willmott MEP, who is Labour's leader in the European Parliament as well as the spokesperson for Labour MEPs on public health, has now led the call for health ministers to ensure that agreement is reached as soon as possible: "This package has now been approved by the European Parliament and has the broad support of national governments.
 
"On average 12 people die everyday across the EU while they are waiting for a transplant. Patients want to be given the best chances of finding a suitable match, so the sooner we act the better."
 
While most organ transplants in the UK come from British donations, the use of organs from other countries is becoming more common, particularly where patients are waiting for a rare match.
 
There are more than 9,000 people waiting for a transplant in the UK, but only around 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.

Glenis added: "The planned rules would mean that there would be one simple and safe system for all 27 member states of the EU, offering hope to the 56,000 European citizens on waiting lists for transplants.
 
"This would be especially beneficial for those patients who are waiting for a rare match, who could be paired up with a donor from elsewhere in Europe, safe in the knowledge that the donor and organ were subject to the same quality and safety standards that they would have been in the UK.
 
"Currently we face a severe shortage of suitable donors across Europe. I hope that these proposals will be a significant step towards solving this terrible problem."

Labour MEPs were closely involved in the scrutiny of the package, amending the proposals to make them more flexible for the NHS and other European health services.
 
The new package will not affect existing rules ensuring organs donated within the NHS are prioritised for use by NHS patients.

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