Madam, – Your Editorial (“Organ Donating”, February 5th) correctly identified many of the challenges that limit timely access by Irish patients to life-saving organ transplantation. Best international practice has identified the “embedding” of suitably trained donor co-ordinators in hospitals as an efficient way of improving donation rates; we currently have a severe shortage of such co-ordinators.
We need frank and open discussion as to why referral rates for donation differ so markedly between Irish hospitals. It is very concerning that, for the whole of 2010, several major teaching hospitals ultimately referred as few as one patient each for organ donation. Open publication by the HSE of the donor referral rates of all Irish hospitals would prompt discussion as to why such discrepancies in donor referral rates occur and as to how they can be minimised.
Plans for a legal framework to support the various types of organ donation appear to be on hold. One hopes that the new minister for health will – in addition to implementing the above measures – bring this much-needed legislation before the Oireachtas soon.
The tragedy is that not only is organ transplantation often life-saving and life-enhancing; in many cases it saves the health service substantial sums of money, as opposed to costly therapies such as dialysis. – Yours, etc,