Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that donated organs are suitable for transplant.

Potential donors are screened for a number of infections, such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis, Cytomegalovirus and Human T-cell lymphotropic virus. In addition, organs are routinely evaluated prior to retrieval, during retrieval and before implantation by both the retrieval team and the transplantation clinical team.

Trained Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation review the donor’s clinical notes and contact the general practitioner or relevant health professional to obtain the medical history. In order to build an accurate background of the donor’s social and medical history, the Specialist Nurse approaches the family to gather information about the potential donor’s lifestyle choices, travel history and other factors that may impact on whether or not a donor’s organs are appropriate for transplantation, using a standard form to ensure that all relevant history is captured. The decision whether or not to accept an organ for a patient is ultimately made by the transplant surgeon, using their clinical expertise and the information collected to carefully weigh up the risks.

In line with guidance, the transplant team discuss with the potential recipient any known risks associated with the organ which could affect its function in the short and long term before obtaining consent for its use.