Government Announces Appointment Of New National Clinical Director For Transplant, UK

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 04 Apr 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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The Department of Health announced the appointment of a new 'transplant tsar' to drive forward Government plans to increase the number of people who can benefit from an organ transplant.

On 16 January, Ministers accepted recommendations made by the Organ Donation Taskforce and agreed the necessary investment to increase by 50% in five years the number of donor organs available for transplantation.

To oversee delivery of this programme of work Transplant and Managing Director at UK Transplant, Mr Chris Rudge has been appointed as National Clinical Director for Transplant.

Ministers have also asked Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director at the Department of Health, to chair the implementation Group, which has a UK-wide remit, to support the new Clinical Director

Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, welcomed Mr Rudge to his new role. He said: "We are delighted that a clinician of Mr Rudge's standing has agreed to work with us to drive forward implementation of the Organ Donation Taskforce recommendations and help achieve the significant increases in transplants that will benefit so many people.

Mr Rudge said:

"I feel privileged to be leading the day-to-day implementation of the Organ Donation Taskforce recommendations. Organ transplantation is one of medicine's great success stories but tragically hundreds of people die in the UK every year because there are not enough organs. I am confident that we can make a real difference to peoples lives over the next three to five years and will be working to overcome the barriers to organ donation identified by the Taskforce and deliver the increase in transplants that is so desperately needed.'

Chris Rudge was appointed UK Transplant's first Medical Director in 2001 to provide clinical leadership and has played a wide role in developing working relationships between UKT, the clinical transplant programmes in the UK and the critical care community. He was consultant transplant surgeon at Guy's Hospital and then St Peter's Hospital.

In 1995 he became Director of Transplantation at The Royal London Hospital, where he continues to spend one day a week.  Mr Rudge will be joining the Department of Health but at the same time he will continue to be responsible for the day to day running of UK Transplant until a permanent replacement is appointed.  His responsibilities also include liaising with those in the other UK Health Departments responsible for implementing the recommendations in their country.

Notes

1. Mr Rudge will undertake his role as National Clinical Director for Transplant on secondment to the Department of Health for three years. His work as National Clinical Director will begin shortly once transitional arrangements at UK Transplant are in place. As part of these arrangements, Lynda Hamlyn, the Chief Executive of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) will take responsibility for the implementation of the Taskforce recommendations that fall to NHSBT.

2. The Organ Donation Taskforce was established by the Government in 2006 to identify barriers to organ donation. The Taskforce was comprised of 20 members including patients, transplant surgeons, critical care specialists, donor transplant co-ordinators, NHS managers, the other Health Departments in the UK and  representatives from the media, clinical ethics, diversity issues and charities. In developing its recommendations the Taskforce consulted a number of experts, including those from Spain, USA and Australia.

3. The Taskforce was asked to identify barriers to organ donation, explore current issues that might have a bearing on donation rates, and recommend action to be taken to increase organ donation within current legal frameworks. Their Report published on 16 January contained 14 recommendations covering the need to invest in better donor identification and referral, better donor coordination and improved organ retrieval arrangements. The UK Government has committed £11m extra funding in 2008/08 to support implementation, and each of the other countries is committed to implementation.

4. The full Report of the taskforce- Organs for Transplants. A Report from the Organ Donation Taskforce, is available at http://www.dh.gov.uk

5. In September 2007, following the publication of the Chief Medical Officer's annual report which recommended a move to presumed consent for organ donation, the Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson asked the Taskforce to look at the issue of presumed consent as a second piece of work..  The issue of presumed consent was not included in the Report published on 16 January .  A separate report will follow in the summer.

6. Currently, more than 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant, rising by about 8% a year. At the end of March 2007, 7,219 patients were listed as actively waiting for a transplant. More information is available on http://www.uktransplant.org.uk

7. UK Transplant is the NHS organisation responsible for matching and allocating donated organs. It is part of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), a Special Health Authority within the NHS that manages the National Blood Service and transplants.  This part of its responsibilities covers the whole of the UK.

http://www.dh.gov.uk