Health and Social Care Committee

Welsh Government representatives say they will treat all responses to the recent consultation on organ donation equally, even though around 40% of what they received were pre-written letters by the Opt for Life organisation.

The Health and Social Care Committee met on 2 May 2012 to gather evidence on the progress of the organ donation bill.

It was revealed that a draft bill will be released next month, then a formal bill will be passed later this year.

If that bill is passed, an opt-out system for organ donation could become law around the beginning of 2015.

When questioned by the committee over why the formation of the bill was taking longer than usual, the Medical Directorate's Deputy Director, Grant Duncan said that they were taking their time because "organ donation saves lives" and "we want to get it right".

Mr Duncan and Chris Jones from NHS Wales, both representing the government, gave an indication of what the bill will include.

The opt in system will be retained, so that people can give a clear indication of their wish to donate their organs.

Mr Jones tried to clear up any confusion over the question of family's role in an opt out system, he said "no organs would be retrieved if a family would be against it".

The pair were challenged over how the system was different if the family still had the final say.

Mr Evans explained that "there will be much higher level of awareness" and that the current refusal rate for families donating the deceased's organs is around 40%, and in countries with an opt out system, that figure is around the 10% mark.

The committee also gathered evidence for its inquiry into residential care for older people.

The high standard of service provided by not for profit organizations was praised by representatives from Pennaf Housing Group, Community Housing Cymru and Gwalia Housing Group but they called for greater flexibility within care for older people in Wales.

Representatives from the Alzheimer's Society and Parkinson's UK Cymru stressed the need for early diagnosis of the illnesses said that staff should be trained to deal with these illnesses as there are so many sufferers currently in the care system.

Due to technical problems the start of the committee is not available on video.