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Dear
Membership,
It is now nearly three months since the launch of the Organ
Donation Task Force Report, this time period has given us
all the opportunity to inwardly digest and interpret the
recommendations that are to directly affect Transplant
Co-ordinators throughout the United Kingdom.
You will all be aware from the statement given on the
website that the Association welcomes the report and
supports any change that sees more families being given the
opportunity to donate and in doing so hopefully increasing
the number of organs available for transplantation.
The next few months and years will see the implementation of
the report, during this period the UKTCA both as a
professional association and key stakeholder, will seek to
represent the views of all co-ordinators whether from a
donor or recipient background.
At the time of writing the new job descriptions are yet to
be published for consultation, again it is unclear as to how
the consultation process will be overseen but I am seeking
to ensure that the job descriptions will be analysed closely
by an independent organisation. I will of course keep you
all as members updated with any further information that I
obtain.
One of the recommendations from the report was to examine
the current educational needs of both new and established
co-coordinators. With this in mind I, along with the current
course facilitators are meeting with UKT in the near future
to examine how and what we need to maintain and support a
workforce that can implement and sustain the likely increase
in donation numbers. As members I would ask that if you have
any thoughts/ ideas as to how education should be given,
then please email me at your convenience I would be more
than happy to speak to anyone and appreciate your input into
this.
I recently gave evidence to a House of Lords Sub-Committee
examining organ donation and transplantation within the
European Union; this was an ideal opportunity to discuss the
current working practises of the DTC and also to highlight
the day-to-day barriers and problems that we encounter. The
committee were extremely interested to hear the views of a
DTC and the opportunity was also given for me to reiterate
the need for full implementation of the task force
recommendations.
It is now a year since the launch of the updated website,
thanks to William Murray for all of his hard work. I have
been particularly heartened to hear of the success and that
we are currently seeing high traffic volume as people visit
the site for information. As I have said previously, if any
member is willing to put abstracts/ posters/presentations on
the site please contact Philippa at
Info@uktca.co.uk. Our field of speciality is an
ever-changing one therefore any updated knowledge should
hopefully be shared with colleagues.
The members area of the website is aimed to be inclusive to
all members, it is an ideal tool in which to share best
practise and to update you on developments throughout the
UK. I would like to take the opportunity of congratulating
the North Thames team on the quite magnificent progress they
have made with donor identification in Accident and
Emergency. This is I believe a hugely untapped source of
donors and could potentially in the future make an impact on
donor numbers. As I am sure you are all aware Paula Aubrey
(NT) is currently undertaking a PhD in this subject and is
seeking DTC’s thoughts on the subject; please see the
members area on the website for more details.
Please make sure you check the site at regular intervals for
updates on jobs, study days, courses, symposiums etc. While
discussing courses, can I take the opportunity to remind
everyone that the UKTCA has negotiated a reduced rate for
members attending the 4TH International Non Heart Beating
Conference, please also look at the website for any benefits
offered to members from the NATCO conference.
You may recall a number of months ago we discussed the
introduction of the “Progress in Transplantation” journal as
an additional membership benefit. I wish to take the
opportunity of apologising for the delay in finalising this
but I am glad to be able to inform you that the copies
should be coming to you within the next two months, thanks
to John Richardson for all his efforts with this one.
Finally can I just add that although the coming months/years
will see a period of great change to the role of all
Co-ordinators, the UKTCA is here to support all of its
members, we are a professional organisation aimed at
maintaining our philosophy of offering donation to all where
appropriate, let us all ensure that the Task Forces work
really does make a difference and that we can achieve organ
donation rates in the UK which will significantly reduce our
transplant waiting lists.
Regards
Jayne
Jayne Fisher
Chair
UKTCA
April 2008
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