Organ donation structure ‘needs reform’

Fluctuations in organ donations from year to year are due to a lack of trained organ donor coordinators in hospitals, according to the chief executive of the Irish Kidney Association.

Mark Murphy made his comments during Organ Donor Awareness Week, which ends on Saturday. Mr Murphy claimed that Ireland is behind on employing these trained professionals, who are proving successful in other European countries.

In 2010 there was almost a record low in the number of organ donations, while 2011 was a record high. 2012 figures were below average at 17per cent less than the previous year. Mr Murphy said Ireland is falling behind in international standards.

“The willingness of the Irish public to donate is not the problem when it comes to organ donation. It is the lack of the required infrastructure, an organ donor registry and the employment of fully trained organ donor coordinators in all our hospitals,” he said.

“This is proven by the top 10 European donating countries that have identified and invested in infrastructure to achieve 30 donors per million of population (pmp) successfully and affordably.”

Mr Murphy added that in some other counties there are university courses focused on creating organ donor coordinators, which requires a unique skills, including dealing with bereaved families. He added that an “opt-out” system of organ donations is not acceptable.

“The Irish public should not be misled that the proposed change in the name of the consent system from ‘Informed Consent’ (opt in) to ‘Presumed consent’ (opt out) would increase our current rate in organ donation from its current 20 per million of population.

" Nowhere in Europe does 'presumed consent' actually take place in practice. Regardless of legislation, they all have come to realise it is not a practical system. The relatives are always consulted and can veto any organ donation process."