The September Transplant Scorecard shows a slight reduction in the number of transplants over the last year compared to the June figures (828 vs 834 transplants) the overall rate is flat. Over a thousand Australians continue to miss out on a life saving or transforming transplant which would be available if Australia was to achieve the same transplantation levels as the world¡¯s leading countries (around 90 transplants per million). This is despite the Federal Government¡¯s commitment in June 2008 of $151m over four years to introduce the world best practice to Australia with the aim of more than doubling the current availability of transplants. Progress is painfully slow; ShareLife and the community encourage those responsible to rapidly implement the best practice plan to pick up the pace to stop Australians dying or suffering needlessly waiting for a transplant.

Current trend of improvement still remains inadequate as Australia enters into the 4^th Quarter of 2009, 15 months after the Federal Government’s commitment to implement world best practice in transplantation.

The June Quarter reflects a disappointing downward trend in the number of transplants performed over the previous year. The Rudd Government’s $151m commitment being implemented by the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority is not improving our current trend towards achieving the 90 transplant’s per million of population target obtained by other leading western countries. Over 1,100 Australian’s continue to suffer or die needlessly.

Encouraging trend in transplant recipients, but a long way to go to equal Worlds Best Practice with over 1,000 Australians continuing to suffer or die needlessly.

While current trends indicate an improvement in the number of transplants completed over the previous year, when measured against those countries achieving World Best Practice, a further 1,096 Australians could have benefited from a life transforming transplant. The sad fact is that if this figure were achieved, the number would still be considerably less than those that could benefit from a transplant if even more donated organs were available.