Annual report launched by chief medical officer

The Department of Health has announced the launch of the 2006 annual report of the state of public health by the chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson.

In the paper, Sir Liam evaluates important developments and health problems in England, while setting out a course for action in five areas.

These areas are: improving hand hygiene in hospitals, the shortage of organs for transplantation, prevention of harm from radiotherapy, newborn baby deaths and women in medicine.

Measures suggested in the report include giving patients a personal supply of alcohol-based handrub and enabling them to ask if healthcare professionals have cleaned their hands, an opt-out system for organ donations and extended use of monitoring devices in radiotherapy.

Other proposals included in the paper are further research into newborn baby deaths and moves to increase the number of women at the top of the medical industry.

Sir Liam said: “There are simply not enough organs donated to meet the need for transplants, with one person dying every day while waiting for a transplant.

“Compounding this are issues surrounding consent, which often reduce this number further.”

He added that a three-fold increase in the number of organs is needed to meet the current demand, stating that this can only be achieved by changing the organisation of donations from an opt-in system to an opt-out system, while taking proper care with regulations and safeguards.

Chief medical officer in Scotland, Harry Burns, has expressed doubts regarding the success of an opt-out system, claiming that evidence does not exist for public support for a shift towards presumed consent, the Scotsman reports.