Ministers must act now to boost access to life saving organ transplants

Labour Euro MPs are calling on EU governments to act quickly to agree new rules to boost access to life-saving organ transplants.

The call comes after the European Parliament voted on a package of standards to help improve the safety and quality of organs donated across the EU.

By establishing these guarantees, the proposed rules should help boost access to a larger pool of organ donations.

In the UK there are more than 9,000 people waiting for a transplant, but only around 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.

This would particularly help people looking for a rare match, enabling them to be paired with a donor from another EU country.

The EU directive was backed by the European Parliament on Wednesday and now needs to be approved by governments from the EU's 27 member states.

Labour MEPs have called on health ministers to ensure that agreement is reached as soon as possible.

Local Labour MEP, Arlene McCarthy, said: “12 people a day die across the EU whilst waiting for an organ transplant.

“We need to ensure that patients are given the best possible chance of finding a matching organ.

“These new rules are quite literally a life line for those patients waiting for a rare match.

“The sooner we act the more lives we save which is why we are calling on Ministers to quickly agree and implement the new rules.”

Arlene added: “The new rules will mean one simple and safe system for all 27 member states of the EU, offering hope to the 56,000 European citizens on waiting lists for transplants.”

“The new rules will also ensure that the donor and organ were subject to the same quality and safety standards that they would have been in the UK.”

"Currently we face a severe shortage of suitable donors across Europe. I hope that these proposals will be a significant step towards solving this terrible problem."