From the press room
Turner –organ donation crisis deepens – 2008-08-06
The Government has cultivated a crisis in organ donation rates, says UnitedFuture deputy leader Judy Turner.
“With burgeoning demand and a reducing supply of organs the Labour Government is seemingly oblivious to the crisis in donation rates in this country,” said Mrs Turner.
“So far this year there have been just 14 organ donors – the lowest number for the first seven months of any year to date.
“It is time that the Government’s neglect of falling organ donations is made into a front-line election issue.
“The Government must admit that the organ donor service and its strategy to promote organ donation is not working despite the whole heap of money that has been poured into it.
“Changes have to be made to the circumstances that are necessary to enable an organ donation to be made.
“This Government has overseen a situation where the individual’s right to decide over the future of their organs is overruled by the need for family permission post-death, which can now be withheld on ‘spiritual, cultural and distress grounds’.
“The Government has failed to deliver on their 2005 election promise of an organ donor register meaning there is nowhere for an individual to record their consent to become a donor once they die.
“For the growing number of people sitting on the waiting list reliant on organ donations, the situation is critical, the Labour Government should be held to account come election time,” said Mrs Turner.
Ends
Contact: Judy Turner MP
04 4706992
021 309803