Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce regional variation in access to liver transplant assessment and services.
Answer
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation in the United Kingdom and manages the NHS Organ Donor Register and national transplant waiting list. NHSBT publishes data on the transplant waiting list by organ at the following link: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/about-organ-donation/statistics-about-organ-donation/ NHS England commissions adult liver transplantation as a highly specialised service from six providers across the country. NHS England is revising the Adult Liver Transplantation Service Specification to strengthen requirements for consistent and equitable access to assessment and transplantation across England. This includes the development of referral networks linking local liver services with transplant centres and expectations for timely assessment and access to specialist advice. The revised specification retains the existing eligibility criteria. This complements wider work led by NHS England and NHSBT in collaboration with the Department to strengthen transplant services.
Verdict: GREEN (77/100)
The reply answers the question directly. It names a specific step, a revision of the Adult Liver Transplantation Service Specification aimed at more consistent and equitable access across England, and explains how it would work through referral networks linking local liver services with transplant centres. It also places this within wider NHS England, NHSBT and Department work on the issue. The main limitation is that it gives no timescale or measure of success, so a member of the public may still want to know when the change will take effect and how progress will be checked.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| What recent steps the Department has taken to reduce regional variation in access to liver transplant assessment and services. | Addressed | Direct | The reply names a concrete step, the revision of the Adult Liver Transplantation Service Specification to strengthen consistent and equitable access across England, and describes a mechanism for it (referral networks linking local liver services with transplant centres, plus expectations for timely assessment and specialist advice). Statement 3 gives the service context and statement 7 places it within wider NHS England, NHSBT and Department work, so the item about reducing regional variation is answered substantively. |