Scottish Government

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Deacon announces resumption of transplants at Scottish heart unit

30/03/2001

The Scottish Heart Transplant Unit in Glasgow will have its new team in place on Monday and will resume heart transplant operations within the next three to six months, Scottish Health Minister Susan Deacon announced today.

Ms Deacon also announced that she is considering plans to expand the service to enable heart-lung and lung transplants to take place for the first time ever in Scotland, and to offer new specialised services for heart failure patients.

Speaking during a visit to the Unit, the Minister announced a 40 per cent or £600,000 increase in annual funding for the Unit to secure its long-term future. This will support a four consultant team, compared to one surgeon in the past.

Ms Deacon said:

"I am delighted to announce that the Scottish Heart Transplant Unit is almost ready to resume its full service - a move which will be welcomed by both staff and patients.

"This follows the temporary transfer of Scottish heart transplant surgery to Newcastle in May last year, after the unexpected departure of the Unit's main surgeon. Since then Glasgow has continued to assess patients for transplants and provide follow-up care but has been unable to provide heart transplant operations.

"We are determined that that situation will not recur - which is why the we have been working hard with the North Glasgow Trust and the National Services Division (NSD) to ensure this service not only re-opens for transplants - but becomes a national centre of excellence which can sustain vital services for patients for many years to come.

"There will now be four consultant surgeons with junior support - instead of just one surgeon. They will form part of a multi-disciplinary team, working with a consultant cardiologist, two transplant co-ordinators and nursing staff. Mr Andrew Murday, the lead consultant surgeon, has also said he will continue to keep the staffing position under review to ensure the Unit maintains a high quality of service.

"The full re-opening will also be supported by additional investment in the Unit - an increase of almost £600,000 to more than £2.1 million in the coming financial year. We intend to capitalise on that investment and expand the Unit's programme so that within the next couple of years it may begin undertaking heart/lung and lung transplants. We are also exploring the possibility that the unit could form the core of a new specialised service for patients with heart failure.

"As I said last year, my priority has been to ensure the return of a safe and sustainable service. As soon as the new team is fully prepared, heart transplants will recommence at the Unit. Meanwhile, I would like to thank the transplant team in Newcastle for all their help during the past few months, and for supporting and training the staff in the restored Scottish unit.

"Unfortunately without organ donation all the effort we have put into re-establishing the full heart transplant service will come to nothing. More often than not, the reason why transplants are delayed is because of the lack of a suitable donor organ. I would therefore urge anyone faced with the decision of whether or not to agree to organ donation to think very carefully about the benefits. Out of their own terrible loss they have the power to give life to someone else for years to come."

Trust Chairman, Ronnie Cleland said:

"We are delighted to be re-establishing the surgical side of the Heart Transplant Service. The staff within the Unit have been working hard to put in place the plans for this. The team, which are being brought together from 2 April under the direction of Mr Andrew Murday, will provide a high quality heart transplantation service for the whole of Scotland.

"When the first transplant operation is carried out depends on both operational and clinical factors. Once Mr Murday is confident that the Team is ready, the final decision to proceed with a transplant operation will be a wholly clinical one - based on the clinical assessment of the patients awaiting surgery and the availability of an appropriate donor organ."

Mr Andrew Murday said:

"I would support the call by the Minister for people to think carefully about the benefits of organ donation. All transplant units can only operate on patients when appropriate donors are available. Over the past year or so, the number of donors in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK has fallen. Part of the role of the new transplant team will be to address this situation.

"I look forward to working as part of the team to tackle this and to prepare for the first operation in the months ahead."

Anne Dundas, spokesperson for the Heart Transplant Patients' Suppport Group, said:

"We are very pleased that the heart transplant unit, to be led by Mr Murday, is being fully re-opened. It is very positive that Scotland is to continue to have its own heart transplant service. I would also like to add my own personal thanks to the staff and the patients for their help over the past year in preparing for the re-establishment of the full service."

BACKGROUND

1. Heart transplantation is designated as a national service, and is provided by the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust on the basis of a Service Agreement with the National Services Division of the Common Services Agency. That Agreement is based on expected activity of 30 transplant operations a year, together with the assessment and working-up of patients pre-operatively and the lifetime of follow-up which they need post-operatively.

2. The full heart transplantation service will be provided by:

3. The Minister for Health and Community Care has asked NSD to prepare an urgent implementation plan for both heart/lung and lung transplantation at the Glasgow Unit.

4. Only one in 10 patients with heart failure, who are referred to the Glasgow Unit, turn out to be suitable for transplants. There are patients, including a significant number of young people, who become catastrophically unwell with heart problems. At present they may be falling through the net by not being referred for a heart transplant. Their chances of survival would be improved if they could be referred to a centre of excellence for stabilisation until a transplant can be carried out. The North Glasgow NHS Trust has been asked to produce a business care for such a service.

5. The full heart transplant service was suspended in May last year, after the unexpected departure of the main surgeon.

News Release: SE0867A/2001
30 Mar 2001