15 Organ donation and transplantation
| (30266)
16545/08
COM(08) 819
+ ADDs 1-2
| Commission Communication: Action Plan on Organ Donation and Transplantation (2009-15): Strengthened Cooperation between Member States
Commission staff working documents: impact assessment and summary of assessment
|
| Legal base | —
|
| Document originated | 8 December 2008
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 15 December 2008
|
| Department | Health |
| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 22 December 2010
|
| Previous Committee Report | HC 19-iii (2008-09), chapter 5 (14 January 2009); HC 19-viii (2008-09), chapter 6 (25 February 2009); HC 19-xiv (2008-09), chapter 5 (22 April 2009); HC 5-xv (2009-10), chapter 2 (24 March 2010) and HC 428-i (2010-11), chapter 13 (8 September 2010)
|
| To be discussed in Council | Not applicable
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
15.1 In 2007, the Commission published a Communication on organ
donation and transplantation which suggested ways in which the
EU and Member States might increase the supply of organs and improve
the quality and safety of transplantation.[67]
The Commission advocated the preparation of an Action Plan to
encourage coordination and cooperation as well as EU legislation
to establish basic principles of safety and quality.
15.2 In December 2008, the Commission published a
further Communication setting out an Action Plan which identified
ten "priority actions" to help Member States address
three main challenges:
- increasing the number of organ
donors;
- making systems for the transplantation
of organs more efficient and accessible; and
- improving the quality and safety of organ donation
and transplantation.
15.3 At the same time, the Commission proposed a
Directive establishing rules intended to ensure high standards
of quality and safety for human organs for transplantation. The
Commission considered that common EU-wide standards were necessary
to protect donors and recipients from infection, increase trust
in the systems for donation and transplantation and facilitate
the cross-border exchange of organs. The Commission noted, for
example, that there were more than 56,000 people in the EU on
transplant waiting lists and that the exchange of organs between
Member States (especially those participating in "Eurotransplant")[68]
was common.
Previous scrutiny of the Action Plan
15.4 The ten "priority actions" proposed
by the Commission in its six-year Action Plan were:
- to promote the role of transplant
donor coordinators in every hospital where there is potential
for organ donation;
- to promote Quality Improvement Programmes in
every hospital where there is potential for organ donation;
- to exchange best practice on organ donation by
living donors and support an EU register of living donors;
- to improve the knowledge and communication skills
of medical staff and patients' organisations about organ donation;
- to facilitate the identification of organ donors
across the EU and cross-border donation;
- to improve organisational arrangements so as
to encourage and facilitate organ donation and transplantation;
- to promote EU-wide agreements on, for example,
the mobility within the EU of transplant patients who are citizens
of the Member States;
- to facilitate the exchange of organs between
national authorities;
- to improve the evaluation of the results of transplants;
and
- to promote a common accreditation system for
organ donation and transplant programmes.
15.5 The Commission said that each Member State should
decide for itself what needed to be done to achieve these objectives.
It suggested that every Member State should use the Action Plan
as a framework to develop its own Set of Priority Actions which
would provide the basis for discussion and exchanges of expertise
and best practice with other Member States. The Action Plan includes
provision for a mid-term review in 2012.
15.6 Our predecessors held the draft Directive and
the Action Plan under scrutiny, raised a number of issues (largely
concerning the draft Directive) and requested regular reports
on the progress of negotiations. In June, the Government informed
us that the Council and the European Parliament had reached a
First Reading deal on the draft Directive which met the vast majority
of the UK's negotiating aims. We considered that it was reasonable,
in the circumstances, for the Government to have given its agreement
to the adoption of the Directive and cleared it from scrutiny
but asked for a further progress report on the Action Plan.
The Minister's letter of 22 December 2010
15.7 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Anne
Milton) tells us that steady progress is being made to implement
the Action Plan. Since its inception, in 2009, three Plenary meetings
have been held and national experts have agreed their initial
work priorities. The main focus, during the first two years of
the Action Plan, has been to develop a common set of indicators
(drawing on data already collected in most Member States) covering
aspects of donation and transplantation. The indicators will provide
the basis for monitoring progress across Member States, sharing
good practice and identifying possible improvements.
15.8 The Minister says that the Commission is developing
a "manual of good practice for Donor Transplant Coordinators"
which will incorporate successful models established in a number
of Member States, including the UK, and help those with less developed
transplant programmes. She adds:
"The UK is one of ten or so Member States with
more developed transplant programmes that make up the technical
steering group. This group meets around four times a year and
helps drive much of the work programme."
15.9 Looking ahead, the Minister says that future
work streams will consider:
- how to encourage and support
organ donation by living donors;
- how to increase rates of organ donation by encouraging
collaboration between emergency medicine, intensive care and donor
transplant coordinators; and
- how to extend the criteria for organ donation.
15.10 She adds that the UK has a particular interest
in the role of emergency medicine and organ donation, and that
her Department has recently held a workshop with intensive care
clinicians to consider whether more could be done to encourage
donation in this area. The Minister offers to provide a further
update on the Action Plan after the next plenary session in February/March.
Conclusion
15.11 The Minister has provided a useful update
on progress so far in implementing the Action Plan. We think that
this is an area where the exchange of information and best practice
between Member States, particularly on ways to increase the number
of organ donors, can result in tangible benefits. We think that
the mid-term review in 2012 provides a suitable opportunity to
evaluate whether the ten priority actions indentified in the Action
Plan are adequate to meet the challenges of increasing the supply
of organs and improving the quality and safety of organ donation
and transplantation across the EU. We look forward to considering
the impact and benefits of the Action plan at that stage, but
are now content to clear it from scrutiny.
67 (28686) 9834/07: see HC 41-xxvii (2006-07), chapter
6 (27 June 2007). Back
68
Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg the Netherlands and Slovenia
participate in Eurotransplant and exchange about 3,300 organs
(or 20% of all organs transplanted) a year. Back
| 
