Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the continuation of arrangements for the sharing of human organs for transplantation across EU borders after the UK leaves the EU.
The United Kingdom shares small numbers of organs with European Union countries. In 2018/19, 14 organs from deceased donors came into the UK from EU countries, and 13 left the UK.
The current UK regulatory frameworks transpose the EU Organ Donation Directives and set high standards of patient safety. We have amended the legislation through The Quality and Safety of Organs Intended for Transplantation (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to maintain the current safety and quality standards to allow organ exchange to continue following EU Exit.
NHS Blood and Transplant is the organisation responsible for organ donation in the UK and is working with their partner organisations in the EU which should ensure that plans are in place to allow organ exchange to continue post-EU Exit.