Welsh Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 7:21 pm on 28 February 1991.

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Photo of Mr Gwilym Jones Mr Gwilym Jones , Cardiff North 7:21, 28 February 1991

My hon. Friend is right to underline that. As I suggested when I referred to the spread of health provision in my constituency—which has a BUPA hospital and three other major hospitals—it does not matter whence the treatment comes or under what auspices it is provided; it is the quality of the treatment and how much the people of Wales benefit from it that matters. With BUPA in Cardiff, North and the renal units developing in the way that my hon. Friend has described, nobody can deny that the people of Wales have benefited significantly from that extra provision.

The two new units at Wrexham and Newport mean that kidney treatment is no longer a regional facility. Every health authority in Wales has a renal unit either within its boundaries or adjacent to it. In 1986, my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport said that Wales compared favourably with England. The figures still compare favourably and that progress will be maintained when the latest two units are completed.

But dialysis is often only a temporary answer, and a transplant is necessary. I was glad to hear a fortnight ago that the 1,000th transplant operation had been carried out at Cardiff royal infirmary. The CRI has dedicated health professionals whose work, particularly on transplants, must be admired.

Between 80 and 90 kidney transplants are carried out each year. That figure has remained constant. There has been no dramatic increase. Similarly, the number of transplant operations in the United Kingdom does not show a fantastic increase. In 1986–87 1,566 transplant operations were carried out and, in the last year for which figures are available, 1988–89, that figure rose to 1,732. According to a written answer last month, the waiting list of transplant operations now stands at 3,620 and that is increasing all the time.

It is sad that, on each waiting list for transplants, one person in four may die before they can have a transplant. There has been a slight improvement but I am impatient for more transplants. It is a tragedy that not more transplant operations are carried out. The Hoffenberg report told us that there is a potential for 8,000 kidneys to be available each year—a much larger figure than the present number of operations of just over 1,700.

One reason why there are not more operations is because the all-important question of the availability of organs is not being addressed. I regret that publicity can sometimes have a detrimental effect. Occasionally, not the best informed articles have appeared in some Sunday newspapers which have led to a significant downturn in the number of organs being made available, despite the fact that they are obviously so necessary.

In 1988 I introduced a ten-minute Bill entitled Transplant Notification Bill, which required a request to be made when there was a possibility of an organ becoming available for donation within a hospital.

With the growing frustration at the lack of transplant operations, there is pressure for the alternative procedure of opting out, which assumes that everyone is prepared for his or her organs to be donated unless an individual has opted out of that presumption. I am not yet persuaded that we should go down that road. Instead, I prefer that relatives should be asked and be free to agree or disagree. An important gift of life is involved. At a time of grief, relatives can find some consolation in knowing that, although they cannot replace a loved one, that loved one's organs can provide a gift of life to others.

Three years ago, my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, South (Mrs. Currie), replying to a debate as Under-Secretary of State for Health, told me that a circular would be put into effect by 1 January 1989 and that she expected it to be renewed after 1 January 1991. We have now passed that date, which is my reason for raising the matter again today. We have not made anything like enough progress in the past three years. I urge my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State, as the Minister with responsibility for health, to take the lead and pioneer either required request legislation, or the concept of opting out. But whichever road he chooses, I hope that he will take the lead so that we can dramatically increase the number of transplant operations.