Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting lists for liver transplants.

The Department works with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) as it continues to focus on saving the lives of those on the waiting list, and supporting safe organ transplantation from living and deceased donors. NHSBT has made changes to organ offering and allocation to maximise liver transplant opportunities for waiting list patients. They have also developed a United Kingdom wide living donor liver transplant programme to increase opportunities for patients on the waiting list to receive a living donor option. Additionally, NHSBT supports the use of liver perfusion devices across all transplant units to allow livers to be kept alive outside the body, to allow more patients to benefit. NHSBT’s marketing strategy also focuses on increasing transplantation through increased organ donor registrations. The strategy works to change the public’s perception and awareness of organ donation and inform how to register a donation preference.