Donor organs should be allocated by need, not geography, report recommends

Donor organs should no longer go to the nearest in-need patient, an official report has recommended. 

Instead, specialised organ centres across the country will be responsible for preserving, repairing and matching an organ with the most needy individual on the transplant register, irrespective of location.

An official report commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care and headed up by Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for England, has recommended 12 changes to further improve donation. 

Among the recommendations – which have been backed by the Government and are expected to be implemented in the coming weeks – is equal access to organ donation services “irrespective of personal circumstances, including ethnicity, geography, socio-economic status or sex”.

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Source: The Telegraph, 21 February 2023