The Galway branch of the Irish Kidney Association is calling for the appointment of a dedicated staff member at University Hospital Galway to liaise with families of intensive care patients in a bid to increase the number of donors available.
Eoin Madden, the PRO of the local branch, was speaking in advance of Donor Week which begins on Saturday.
The number of donors nationally fell to a record low of 58 last year compared to 90 in 2009.
Appealing to people to become donors he says this “significant” drop in the number of organs donated is of grave concern to the IKA.
He attributes the decrease mainly to the fact that frontline staff at intensive care units do not have the opportunity due to their busy schedules to speak about organ donation to families at the time of loved ones deaths
“Irish people are very generous and they do want to donate. However, the frontline staff in intensive care do not have the opportunity because they are too busy to talk to the families at the time of death about organ donation. That is the main stumbling block, staff are too busy to ask. Raising the subject of organ donation is left to the doctors or nurses to do along with their main job.
“Our belief is what is necessary is the appointment of a dedicated staff member/counsellor who would be available to talk to families in very emotional times and ask these difficult questions. This would significantly increase the number of donations. Some hospitals are operating this system already, such as Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, it receives three times as many donations as Galway. It had 14 donors last year while Galway had four, down from six the previous year. There are currently 320 people on dialysis in Galway - many of those would be on it for three to four years.
“The IKA is calling for the appointment of these counsellors in the country’s 12 main hospitals. It is having a meeting with the new Minister for Health Dr James Reilly soon, he is open to this idea, he said so last Wednesday.”
Mr Madden, who received a kidney transplant two years ago, believes this move would be cost effective as fewer people would need long-term dialysis treatment.
“While resources would need to be dedicated to funding this appointment it would save money. A transplant would be more cost effective than dialysis.”
He says currently donor organs are only taken from people who are declared “brain stem”dead. Donors remain on ventilators until the organs are retrieved.
There are a number of common misconceptions which may discourage people from becoming donors. “There is one false belief that ambulance people go through the wallets of the ill or injured [to see if they carry donor cards].That is completely untrue. Equally, there is no truth to the fear some people have that they won’t be kept on life support as a long as a non donor if they carry a donor card. These are all myths.
“Organs are only harvested after a person is declared brain stem dead and only with the consent of the family. Generally, people would be in a vegetative state in hospital for a long time. Today more and more organs are taken from people with varying medical histories. Donations can be taken from a wider range of people than ever before.”
He believes the introduction of an “opt out” clause involving “presumed consent” of organ donation for everybody rather than the current “opt-in” clause whereby people must stipulate they want to donate their organs would be beneficial as mentioned in the Programme for Government.
“Currently, an opt-in system applies here whereby you have to stipulate you want to donate your organs after death. But whether Ireland uses an opt-in or opt-out system it is the donor’s family who have the final say. At the end of the day they will make the decision.”
* Organ Donor Week takes place from Saturday April 2 to 9. Fundraising collections will take place throughout the city and county as part of the event.
Donor cards are available from most pharmacies. This year the IKA has developed an iPhone app whereby a donor e-card can be downloaded to your Apple iPhone or iPad free from the iTunes store. Donor cards can also be obtained by texting the word DONOR to 50050.
