Published: Wednesday, 20th February, 2008 12:30
MP calls for more organ donors
By Nicola Findlay
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Gordon Banks MP (right) is joined by his assistant John Spence and Anne Duncombe, who is waiting for a kidney transplant, to launch the campaign to encourage more people to sign up to the Organ Donor Register.
Pic by: David Robertson
OUR CAMPAIGN to get Clackmannanshire to ‘Sign up for life’ was given an official launch this week by Gordon Banks MP.
More then 8000 people are on the waiting list for organ transplants and although many of us would have no objection to our organs being used to save a life, the majority of people never get around to actually signing up for a donor card.
This led Mr Banks to seek the Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser’s support in encouraging more people to sign up for the Organ Donor Register.
And he is also backing calls for a change to an ‘opt-out system’ in the UK, which he feels would help tackle the chronic shortage of organ donations.
However, it could still be 18 months to two years before an opt-out system is finally approved by the Westminster Parliament.
In the meantime, Mr Banks is urging people to still sign up to the existing register.
Last year more than 400 people died while waiting for a transplant.
One in 10 people waiting for a heart transplant will die and many others will lose their lives before they even get on the waiting list.
The more people who pledge to donate their organs after their death, the more people stand to benefit by leading a full and active life.
Mr Banks told the Advertiser, “I would like to move to an opt-out system as soon as possible, and that is what the Prime Minister has sent a task force away to look at.
“The lives that can be saved of the people receiving the organs, and what they can put back into society, means it is worth the fight.
“At the end of the day what price can you put on a life?”
However, if the system is changed to one where people have to opt-out of organ donation, Mr Banks believes there needs to be an adequate level of investment and expertise in the NHS to be able to cope.
He went on, “Unless we have got the people who are properly trained, and transplant co-ordinators who are available 24 hours a day, we would find ourselves in the same situation as countries like Spain when they first changed to the opt-out system.
“Until people are trained up we wouldn’t be able to use the number of organs we theoretically had.
“There may be a need for investment in the short term, but the sooner the extra money is found the better as there will be long term savings for the NHS, as well as improving people’s quality of life. They will be able to lead a normal life, go back to work and pay their taxes.”
Mr Banks is raising several questions in Parliament over the coming weeks and has tabled an Early Day Motion for debate in the House of Commons.
He is also planning to write to GPs in the area to encourage them to be more active in bringing up the issue of organ donation with their patients and hopes to engage with senior pupils in the county’s secondary schools.
Mr Banks is also planning a visit to Falkirk Royal Infirmary, where patients in Forth Valley go for dialysis while waiting for kidney transplants.
He said, “I would like to see GPs encouraging people to sign up to the register and to carry donor cards.
“In 50 years I have never had a GP speak to me about organ donation.
“I accept it can be a difficult subject to raise, especially when a patient is ill, but there are times when doctors ask you to go and see them, whether it is for a clinic or simply a check-up.
“Any of these instances would be an ideal time for a GP to raise the issue.”
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