Facilitate collaboration on an organ and tissue donation and transplantation system that gives Canadians timely and effective access to care.

What success looks like

An increase in the supply of organs and tissue available so that Canadians get timely and effective access to care.

Government's narrative on progress

Since April 2008, the government has worked collaboratively with provinces and territories to improve the Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplant system in Canada. This includes better collaboration, public education and use of best practices to increase donations and ultimately an increase in the supply of organs and tissue so that Canadians are able to access them when needed. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, a total of 2,835 lifesaving transplants were performed in Canada (including Quebec) in 2016, a 32 per cent increase since 2007. Over the last 10 years, the rate of deceased donation has increased 42 per cent but the rate of living donation has decreased 11%. There were 4,500 patients on organ waitlists at the end of 2016, and 260 patients died in 2016 while waiting for a transplant. Health Canada is facilitating a process with Canadian Blood Services (CBS) and the provincial/territorial members of the PT Blood Liaison Committee (PTBLC), led by Saskatchewan, to identify and explore how to make greater progress on governance and oversight, integration, coordination and system performance. Consultations have concluded and the summary findings were shared at a stakeholder meeting in November 2018 at which time priority actions were identified. Eight multi-stakeholder working groups are now developing action plans and will reconvene in February 2019. To help Canada move to a more coordinated and effective approach to organ donation and transplantation, Budget 2019 proposes to provide Health Canada with $36.5 million over five years, starting in 2019–20, with $5 million per year ongoing, to develop a pan-Canadian data and performance system for organ donation and transplantation, in collaboration with provincial and territorial partners. This will help to improve consistency and quality in data, allowing more donors and recipients to be effectively matched in order to ensure Canadians have timely and effective access to organ transplant care.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.