Ann Keen MP praises those who assess living organ transplants

Ann Keen spoke at the HTA’s second annual conference of Independent Assessors.

Issue date: 6 November 2008

Ann Keen MP, Minister with responsibility for organ transplants, congratulated Independent Assessors for their professionalism in their central role in supporting increasing numbers of living donor organ transplants.

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) is responsible for approving all transplants involving living people following an independent assessment process. All donors and recipients see a local Independent Assessor (IA), who acts on behalf of the HTA and as representatives of donors. They make sure the donor and recipient have been thoroughly assessed and understand what is involved in giving and receiving an organ and that the risks have been properly explained.

Before becoming a Minister, Ann Keen worked as a nurse in the NHS for 25 years.

Ann Keen said: “The Human Tissue Act 2004 and the establishment of the HTA were big watersheds in the short history of organ donation in the UK and the legislation placed consent at its heart.

“The HTA is to be congratulated for introducing new systems for organ donation from living people, including paired and altruistic donation.

“I visited Hammersmith Hospital recently to see the living donor transplant programme and met a daughter who donated to her mother, a brother to his sister, and a husband to his wife.”

Speaking of these and the altruistic kidney donation by Barbara Ryder, who was in the audience, Ann Keen added:

 “My admiration for people like Barbara is overwhelming. Donors must be fully aware of the process involved and I am reassured that Independent Assessors are there to fulfill that essential role. The HTA is an efficient and modern regulator and trained Independent Assessors work together to implement a robust system in which the public can have real confidence. The role of Independent Assessors has real importance and I am greatly encouraged by your work, your quick but thorough approval system and your professionalism.”

-ENDS-

Contact

For more information please contact Andy Thornley, Communications Officer at the Human Tissue Authority on 0207 211 3416 or andy.thornley@hta.gov.uk

Notes to editors

1. Between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008, 853 living donations took place. 832 were living donor kidney transplants, accounting for more than one-in-three of all kidney transplants.

2. The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) is responsible for approving all transplants involving living people following an independent assessment process. For more information about living donation and the independent assessment process: /about_hta/publications/leaflets.cfm

3. As the regulator under the Human Tissue Act, the HTA has a number of statutory functions:

• To inform the public, professionals and the Secretary of State for Health about issues within our remit. We meet this requirement for professionals by providing guidance, including codes of practice, to support good practice.
• To regulate, through licensing, a number of sectors and to carry out inspections to ensure licence conditions are being met. The licensed sectors are: anatomy, post-mortem services, human application (transplantation of tissues and cells), research and public display.
• To regulate, through a system of approvals, the donation from living people of solid organs, bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells for transplantation into others. The HTA also oversees the consent requirements of the HT Act for deceased organ donation.
• The HT Act covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is separate legislation in Scotland – the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 – and the HTA performs certain tasks on behalf of the Scottish Government (approval of living donation of organs and licensing of establishments storing tissue for human application).
• The HTA is also the competent body for the European Union Tissue and Cells Directives (EUTCD) which is implemented UK-wide.