Oral Answers to Questions

Jane Ellison Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

15. What steps he is taking to increase levels of organ donation.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)]

Organ donation rates have increased by about 60% since 2008. The Government give about £60 million a year to NHS Blood and Transplant to support organ donation. NHSBT has a strategy, which it launched in 2013, to take us up to 2020 and increase that figure even further.

[Glyn Davies]

Does the Minister agree that one of the most effective ways of increasing organ donation is to ensure that the next of kin of every potential donor is offered a meeting with a specialist nurse in organ donation, irrespective of whether the potential donor carries a card?

[Jane Ellison]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight one of the principal difficulties we face, which is people not having a conversation about donation. Even if people are on the organ donor register, their wishes are sometimes overtaken by those of their families at that very difficult moment. He is right to highlight the brilliant work done by SNODs, as well as initiatives such as the one that will happen this Saturday, when the Daily Mail, together with the organ donor register, will produce a publication that will, we hope, stimulate thousands of conversations across the land. Having a conversation about consent is one of the ways we will crack this problem.

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

16. What steps his Department has taken to improve transparency in the NHS.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)]

I have to tell the hon. Lady that the law for England and Wales changed on 1 October, so in fact we are in the vanguard, not Scotland.

[Mims Davies (Eastleigh) (Con)]

Given this Government’s continued excellent commitment to investing in our NHS and reducing preventable mortality, does the Minister agree that keeping healthcare provision as local as possible is very important for Moorgreen hospital in my constituency?

--- Later in debate ---

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

What health problems are caused by first-cousin marriages, and how much does dealing with those problems cost the NHS each year?

[Jane Ellison]

I cannot give my hon. Friend a specific answer, but I would be very happy to get back to him because I know there has been some local discussion about this in the city that he represents. I know of the issues to which he refers.

[Several hon. Members rose—]