On Monday 20 September, Health Minister Robin Swann opened the debate for Second Reading of the Organ and Tissue (Deemed Consent) Bill at Stormont. The session ended with Parliament passing a landmark vote, allowing the Bill to progress to the next stage of the legislative process.
The proposed new laws aim to move Northern Ireland to an “opt-out” system, which would mean that everyone living in Northern Ireland consents to donating their organs when they die, unless they have registered their intention not to donate or belong to an excluded group.
Proposed exemptions to deemed consent include people under the age of 18, people who do not have the capacity to understand the new law, and people who do not normally reside in Northern Ireland, such as visitors.
Organ donation remains a choice and under the proposed new law families would still be consulted about the possibility of organ donation. It remains important to make a decision about organ donation and to share that decision with family, friends and loved ones.
The legislative process is expected to be completed by March 2022, before the Northern Ireland elections. Although legislation is targeted for March 2022, it is anticipated that there will be at least a year of preparation before the new opt-out law comes into force in spring 2023.
After the second reading of the Organ and Tissue Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill, Minister for Health Robin Swann said: “Today marks another step forward in a long journey for everyone involved in the organ donation process. I am honoured to be able to introduce the second stage of the Bill into Parliament today and it is incredibly timely that my parliamentary colleagues have agreed to this motion on the first day of Organ Donation Week.”
Minister Swann continued: “Northern Ireland has a good record of organ donation and we should rightly be proud of it, but with so many local people waiting for a transplant we must do all we can to increase the number of organs available for transplant.”
“The Organ Donation Bill, which we hope will be passed in spring 2023, will strengthen the current legal framework on organ donation and increase the current rate of consent in the small number of cases where it is clinically possible to proceed with organ donation after a person's death. In doing so, it will increase the total number of donors and ultimately the number of life-saving organs available for transplant.”
If passed, the law would bring Northern Ireland under the same legal framework as Wales, England and Scotland, which introduced the opt-out in March this year.
