Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

728. To ask the Minister for Health the number of organ transplants carried out in each of the past five years; if over 450 organ donations have been declined due to the fact the next of kin were unsure of their relatives wishes; his plans to change end of life protocols in relation to organ harvesting and donations; and if he has new plans to increase transplant capacity in the health system. [9526/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Transplantation remains the only available treatment for heart, lung and liver end stage failure.  It is the most cost-effective treatment for end-stage kidney disease, and it brings enormous clinical and social benefits to patients who would otherwise remain on dialysis.

The number of deceased donors has remained relatively static over the last decade and world wide the most significant problem affecting transplant programs today is the shortage of suitable organs to transplant.

The reality of organ donation and transplantation is that very limited number of people die in circumstances where organ donation is a possibility.  For transplantation to take place, an organ has to be clinically determined to be medically suitable based on a risk benefit analysis to the recipient. 

An average of 281 transplants were carried out annually over the past 5 years, with 274 transplants carried out in 2019 (see table below).  Up to 30th April 2020, 63 transplants have taken place (31 deceased kidney, 8 living kidney, 15 liver, 1 pancreas, 3 heart and 5 lung transplants).

A range of initiatives are and have been taken by my Department to increase the availability of organs for donation.  These include:

- the establishment of a National Organ Procurement Service;

- the appointment of clinical leads for organ donation and organ donation nurse managers in each Hospital Group;

- the planned National Organ Retrieval Service; and

- the retrieval of organs in more complex donor cases.  

The National Service Plan 2020 provides for additional funding of €0.5m for the development of a dedicated National Organ Retrieval service.  This funding will facilitate the move to increase deceased cardiac donations and will allow for the expansion of the criteria for acceptable donor donations.  This funding is particularly important to meet the expected additional demands on transplant services following the introduction of the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Legislation & the opt-out system of organ donation.

Table of Transplants 2015 -2019