Organs: Donors
Health

Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) England and Wales died in (i) 2005, (ii) 2007, (iii) 2009 and (iv) 2011 because an organ for transplant was not available; what steps he is taking to increase the levels of organ donation; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Conservative)

The information requested on deaths on the organ transplant waiting list for 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011 is provided in the following table:

The Government have supported a number of initiatives to encourage people to add their name to the organ donation register (ODR) or to agree donation. Much of this work is led by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in conjunction with a number of partners. For example, people may sign up to the ODR when they register with a new general practitioner, when applying for a new passport, when applying for a European Health Insurance Card and when applying for a Boots advantage card.

We have also established a prompted choice scheme/ working in partnership with the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, which requires people applying for a driving licence on-line to answer a question about organ donation.

There are now over 200 highly trained specialist nurses for organ donation based in hospitals across the country. Clinical leads for organ donation have also been appointed in every acute hospital working closely with hospital organ donation committees to increase donation rates.

Due to the challenges of recruiting donors from some communities, we have also set up the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance to increase numbers of black, Asian and minority ethnic people on bone marrow and whole organ registers and who consent to donate. It attempts to do so by raising awareness of inequalities and promoting the importance of transplantation.