Medical groups back donor call

The proposal came from the Government's Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Sir Liam Donaldson who said it was the only way to end the "crisis" of donor shortage which sees one patient die each day on the transplant waiting list.

His comments were almost universally backed by medical groups, but they stressed the need to ensure that the public was well-informed of any changes and raised concerns about whether the NHS infrastructure could cope with more transplants.

Unveiling his annual report on the health of the nation at the Royal College of Pathologists, Sir Liam said that the NHS organ donor register needs to approximately treble its signatories to meet demand for organs. Instead, he said, there is a "widening gap" between those needing organs and those donating them.

According to a survey quoted in his report, 70% of people want to donate their organs after death but only 20% are on the register.

Sir Liam said black and ethnic minorities are the worst hit: they make up a quarter of the organ transplant waiting list and yet there are only 2% of donors from black and ethnic minorities to provide genetically-matched organs. Another worry is the "transplant tourists", who go abroad for organs but "often face low standards of safety and quality of care", with an increased risk of damaged organs, infections and death, Sir Liam said.

"Picking up the results of unsuccessful surgery overseas is expensive and has devastating consequences for the patients concerned," he said.

The UK has one of the lowest organ donation rates in developed countries, he said, but pointed to the "highly successful" example of Spain, which was in a similar situation and managed to more than double its donations with an opt out system.

If brought into law, the system would include safeguards allowing objecting religious and faith groups to opt out, Sir Liam said, and in "special circumstances" the views of relatives strongly opposed would be respected. The opt-out strategy was first introduced as an amendment to the Human Tissue Bill in June 2004 and overwhelmingly rejected by MPs.

But Sir Liam predicted the lack of results in initiatives to encourage people to register as donors, combined with the "widening gulf" between the number of people on the transplant waiting list and registered donors, would alter this. He said: "Confronted with the changing situation I think many of the groups that have reviewed it in the past may want to change their minds."