Organ Donation

Alun Cairns Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Mr Davies. I particularly want to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South West (Paul Uppal) for raising an issue that is hugely important to many people. Increasing the number of organs available has become a passion of mine. The comments of the hon. Member for Newport West (Paul Flynn) made an impact on me. We all want to see an increase in the number of organs available for donation. We need to look at the evidence available and decide the best route to go down to achieve the increase. Over the years that I have been involved, one of the main issues looked at has been a change to opt out. We have to look at what happened in countries where they moved towards presumed consent from the position of informed consent.

As well as looking at international examples, it is important to look at the evidence of the taskforce set up by the previous Government in 2008. I have looked at the matter in detail. Spain is often quoted by people who favour presumed consent; it was their exemplar, until perhaps 12 months ago, when it became Belgium. Presumed consent was introduced in Spain in 1979, but nothing happened for 10 years. In 1989, a new law was passed in Spain, which introduced a comprehensive transplant co-ordination system throughout the country to raise awareness and understanding. That is what made the difference. From that date on, there was an increase such that Spain is now one of the best examples in the world for organ transplant.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work that he is doing in this area. Is he aware of the independent analysis of the model in Spain by our former colleagues in the Welsh Assembly? When they went to visit Spain, they were in favour of presumed consent at the outset, but they changed their minds by the time they came back. There is extremely effective evidence that can be contributed to the debate.

[Glyn Davies]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. That is a point that I want to make. Nearly everybody wants to increase the number of organs available, but we must be careful to look at the evidence to ensure we do not introduce changes that will hinder that. I have read the taskforce’s careful evidence. The Prime Minister of the day said that he wanted to move down this road. Members of the taskforce tended to be supportive of that move at the start, but by the end they unanimously said it was dangerous to move in that direction and that there was a real danger of it reducing the number of organs available.

We must be incredibly careful. I welcome this debate—and indeed the debate taking place in Wales, which started yesterday—because it raises awareness of the issue. Family members will know what the wishes of the deceased were and they will be able to give permission without there being a statutory register. There is no such register in Spain—or at least hardly anyone joins it. The family must know. As long as we raise awareness and understanding of what is involved and have people who can speak to those in a difficult position—because someone has just died, or a machine is about to be turned off—in an understanding way, it will encourage the nation. If we go down that road, I think we will produce the extra organs that we need.