Vol. 486 No. 1
578 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will give a progress report on the Government's undertaking to provide a heart and lung transplant unit in this country; if he will give an estimated timetable for future progress; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1652/98]
Under present arrangements, Irish patients considered in need of a lung or heart-lung transplant are referred by their medical consultant for assessment to an established transplant centre in the UK and if suitable are put on the waiting list for a transplant. At present there are more than 300 patients on this waiting list, which greatly exceeds the availability of suitable organs. A total of 20 Irish patients are on the active waiting list, including 11 who are awaiting a heart-lung transplant.
The Deputy will be aware that the programme for Government, "An Action Programme for the Millennium", includes a commitment to support the establishment of a heart and lung transplant facility in Ireland. My Department is progressing this complex service issue in the following manner.
The immediate requirement is to examine whether the existing service provided to Irish patients and their families in the UK can be improved. Officials from my Department have been pursuing this matter in discussions with their counterparts in the UK. Following these discussions, arrangements have been made for site visits to selected transplant centres in the UK with a view to contracting work to a proven centre. The requirements of Irish patients on the waiting list will be discussed in detail with the individual sites. In addition, the training requirements for Irish surgical, medical, nursing and support staff will be discussed in preparation for the establishment of an Irish based programme. It is expected that preliminary discussions with selected sites will be concluded in a matter of weeks.
The overall assessment of the issues involved in setting up a lung and heart-lung transplant facility in Ireland will have particular regard to the experience of other countries, including those with a similar population size to Ireland, who have previously examined the feasibility of establishing a successful transplant programme. My Department is drawing upon the expert views of key professionals in this field as part of the assessment.
It must be recognised that the establishment of a lung and heart-lung transplant programme here is an extremely complex and difficult task. One of the critical factors in the successful delivery of a quality transplant programme is whether the level of transplant activity in an established programme is sufficient to maintain the level of expertise required to achieve successful outcomes. It is essential to have appropriately trained staff, suitable infrastructure and a multi disciplinary approach to ensure successful outcomes. A phased approach needs to be adopted, recognising the need to build expertise and to create a programme that is viable in terms of the outcomes for patients, whether it be at home or abroad.
