All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry

An All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Inquiry into diversity, donation and delivery

In March 2023, Sarah Olney MP, Chair of the APPG announced an inquiry into the inequitable access to blood transfusion, organ and stem cell transplantation services in the UK for patients from Black, Asian, mixed race and minority ethnic communities. The inquiry sought to understand the scale of the problem and to make recommendations on the steps that need to be taken to increase organ, blood and stem cell registrations and donations.

Click image above, or here to view and download report

Please click here for the Terms of Reference for the inquiry and the call for evidence.

The 2023 Inquiry culminated in the “Where are our nation’s donors?” report being launched in Parliament on 4 December, with over 100 people in attendance. The Guardian newspaper published this article in respect of the report.

The launch event followed a number of prior meetings with key stakeholders and also some good news that Buckinghamshire New University had received funding approval for an evidence based research study on the enablers and blockers to people from mixed heritage and minority ethnic communities becoming blood and stem cell donors.

What follows below is the detail relating to the inquiry, including 54 written evidence submissions and two verbal evidence witness sessions that were held in June 2023, Chaired by Sarah Olney MP, alongside Rt Hon Mark Tami MP and Dame Jackie Doyle-Price MP.

All enquiries: appg@teammargot.com and / or telephone Yaser Martini on 07770672559.

Thank you.

Witness Evidence Sessions

Panel included: Sarah Olney MP (Chair), Jackie Doyle Price MP and Mark Tami MP

Zoom evidence gathering sessions were held on:
Thursday 29^th June 2023 10 am – 12.30 pm

Click on the following links to access video recordings of Witness Evidence sessions:

Click here to watch video recording of evidence session 1

Session 1 (10am – 11am)
Outlining the problem

Orin Lewis OBE, CEO, African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust

Gurch Randhawa PhD FFPH DL, Professor of Diversity in Public Health & Director, Institute for Health Research University of Bedfordshire

Michele Salter, CPFA (Hons), Chair of Trustees & Treasurer, Sickle Cell Society UK

Delordson Kallon, PhD., FIBMS, FRCPath, Consultant Clinical Scientist and Specialty Clinical Lead for Transplantation,NHS East and South East London Pathology Partnership Barts Health NHS Trust, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)

Rajesh Sivaprakasam MBBS, MRCS, M.Phil ( Cambridge), FICRS, FACS, FRCS
Consultant in Transplant, Access and General Surgery, Lead for Robotic renal failure Surgery, Research and Education, Chair for Bartshealth Robotic research programme.

Click here to watch video recording of evidence session 2

Session 2 (11:30am – 12:30pm)
Current provision and issues

Gail Miflin, Chief Medical Officer and Director of Clinical Services, NHS Blood and Transplant

David Rose, Director of Donor Experience and Communications, NHS Blood and Transplant

Henny Braund, CEO, Anthony Nolan

Professor Smeeta Sinha, National Clinical Director for Renal Services, NHS England

Professor John Snowden BSc, MBChB, MD, FRCP (London), FRCP (Edin), FRCPath, DTM&H, Consultant Haematologist, Director of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Programme, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

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26.6.23

We are pleased to announce the upcoming Witness Evidence Sessions, an important part of our ongoing inquiry into health inequalities in transplant and transfusion treatments. These sessions will be chaired by Sarah Olney MP on behalf of the APPG and held virtually via this Zoom link on Thursday 29th of June 2023 between 10:00 am and 12:30 pm.

You are invited to participate as an observer. The sessions will be recorded and a video of the sessions will later be made available on this webpage.

The sessions will feature a panel of distinguished witnesses – please click here for their biographies. Their collective expertise will illuminate the current state of organ, blood, and stem cell donation in the UK, particularly as it pertains to the needs and experiences of our diverse communities.

Our aim in these sessions is to foster a candid dialogue and to explore how we can collaboratively work to reduce health inequalities. We are particularly keen to understand how we can increase donor registration from underrepresented groups and in doing so improve patient outcomes.

This inquiry is driven by a commitment to the principles of fairness, representation, and health equity. We are eager to learn from our witnesses’ experience and insights, and to translate this knowledge into meaningful, actionable changes. Their testimonies and ideas, alongside the evidence submissions received will play a crucial role in helping us achieve our goals.

We view these sessions as an opportunity for open, transparent conversation. By engaging key stakeholders in this dialogue, we hope to ensure that the voices of all communities are heard, and their unique experiences and needs are taken into account in shaping the future of transplant and transfusion treatments in the UK.

These sessions underline our belief in ‘doing the doing’—in using this inquiry not just as an exploration, but as a catalyst for change.

We are very grateful to everyone who has submitted evidence for this inquiry and in particular to our witnesses for their time and commitment to this important cause, and we look forward to a productive and enlightening session.

Thank you.

Team Margot Foundation
Group Secretariat

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View Evidence Submitted

To view the evidence submitted, click on the links below:

Jacob Knox-Hooke, Race Against Blood Cancer

Beverley De-Gale, Co-Founder ACLT

Dr Ros Williams FHEA, Associate Director | ESRC Digital Good Network Executive Committee | iHuman institute Associate Editor | New Genetics and Society

Ivan Greenhill, Blood donor

Professor Gurch Randhawa PhD FFPH DL, Professor of Diversity in Public Health & Director, Institute for Health Research, University of Bedfordshire

Ros Mafi, Stem cell donor

Prafula Shah

Dr Stefano, Honorary Senior Lecturer and Supanya Casalotti

Alexander Wood PhD Network Manager Renal Operational Delivery Network, North East and North Cumbria

Emma Wynn, Specialist Nurse Organ Donation

Yaser Martini, patient family

Action On Blood (Abiola Okubanjo)

Georgelene Elliott, Founder Black Blood Matters

Feyona Daley, Sickle Cell Patient

Peter May, Department of Health Permanent Secretary and HSC Chief Executive, Northern Ireland