Draft Human Tissue (Permitted Material: Exceptions) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, along with Geoffrey Robinson, former MP for Coventry North West, and supported by Dan Jarvis MP, I was very proud to sponsor what became the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2019 through your Lordships’ House, on which these orders are based. I hope that the Minister, when he comes to wind up, will join me in thanking Geoffrey Robinson and Dan Jarvis for the tremendous work that they did.

Our aim was to increase the number of organ donations while maintaining strong family involvement in the decision to donate, which remains a remarkable act of giving. The Bill was known as Max and Keira’s Bill—now Max and Keira’s law—in honour of the recipient, Max Johnson, for his immense bravery while waiting for a heart transplant, and the donor, Keira Ball, who tragically died in a road accident. I pay tribute to both of them. I also pay tribute to the Mirror newspaper and its readers for the tremendous support they gave to the campaign. Thanks, too, to Kidney Care UK and many other charities, who have been such a help.

Our aim is quite simply to inspire more people to have that incredibly important conversation with their loved ones, knowing that this could save the life of a person waiting for a transplant. It is estimated that 700 more transplants a year could take place. I fully support the regulations and the associated codes of practice, which have a greater focus on faiths and beliefs and should support better conversations and greater reassurance for many families.

I know that the NHS is working to continue organ donation where possible, but the impact of Covid-19 on transplants has been major, with many centres having to close or at least limit the scale of transplants. We know, for instance, that some people waiting for a kidney transplant have had to commence dialysis rather than have pre-emptive treatment. Although there is no known transmission of Covid-19 through organ donation, any risks need to be minimised as much as possible because patients who need a transplant must be immunosuppressed.

The Covid-19 outbreak has also brought the need to address health inequalities faced by people from BAME communities into sharp relief. There is too much inequality in transplant cases, too. As Kidney Care UK put it to me, people from BAME communities wait six months longer for an organ, despite being more at risk of kidney failure, because fewer organs are available from donors from this community.

I know that it is unlikely that transplants will proceed under the deemed consent provisions during the coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps the Minister could expand on that a little more. I hope that he will commit to a major public awareness campaign when we are out of the crisis; it is essential in maintaining public support and trust for organ donation. The campaign launched by NHS Blood and Transplant in April 2019 was successful in raising awareness and was an excellent start. However, it had to be significantly reduced during the epidemic to enable messaging to focus on keeping the public safe and well. That is quite understandable, but I ask the Government to ensure that, when we come out of this, they fund campaigns on a regular basis to encourage people to consent and understand the new issues that this legislation brings in.

I ask the Minister to ensure also that the NHS is fully prepared for the expected increase in donations. The specialist nurses for organ and tissue donation are essential to the successful implementation of the Act. These amazing people provide advice, support and information to the family. They determine the last known decision of the deceased and ensure that no organs or tissues are retrieved without consent being in place. It is essential that the number of nurses is increased so that families continue to receive the highest possible care and support.

During the passage of the then Bill, the Minister’s predecessor, Lord O’Shaughnessy, stated that the Government would

“make sure that there are enough highly trained staff to make the most of the changes resulting from this Bill”

and that we should

“make sure that they are fully trained and fully financed for the future.”—[Official Report, 23/11/18; col. 447.]

I seek a commitment from the Minister that that additional funding will be provided to ensure that the increase in nurses continues in future, so that the families of every donor can be approached with the necessary care, sensitivity and empathy.

It is also very important that we make the most of every single precious gift of donation. We know that transplant units are already under pressure. NHS Blood and Transplant recently established a new system for flagging instances where organs were declined for a named patient purely because of a lack of available resources to enable the team to undertake the transplant. We need to ensure that transplant units can keep pace with the anticipated increase in organ donation. They too need to be funded and resourced to make sure that every organ that could be transplanted is transplanted. No organ should be declined by a transplant team due to a lack of resources.

Finally, I refer to novel technologies. The UK is currently leading the world in novel technologies to support organ transplantation. We have developed new techniques and machines that enable us successfully to transplant organs that would not have been transplantable before. I ask the Government to confirm that they will support transplant units and fund them to ensure that they can use these novel technologies and save more lives through the gift of donation. And I hope, again, that the Minister will acknowledge the work of Geoffrey Robinson and Dan Jarvis MP in supporting the Bill through the other place.