Human Tissue Authority

Last updated

Human Tissue Authority
Human Tissue Authority logo.svg
Non-departmental public body overview
Formed1 April 2005
Parent department Department of Health and Social Care
Website www.hta.gov.uk

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. [1] It regulates the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue for a number of scheduled purposes such as research, transplantation, and education and training.

Contents

It was created by the Human Tissue Act 2004 and came into being on 1 April 2005 and its statutory functions began on 1 April 2006. The Board was originally chaired by Baroness Hayman followed, in 2006, by Shirley Harrison, from January 2010 to 2018 by Baroness Diana Warwick, from March 2018 to January 2019 by Baroness Nicola Blackwood and since November 2019 by Lynne Berry OBE.

The HTA's aim is to build on the confidence people have in its regulation by ensuring that human tissue and organs are used safely and ethically, and with proper consent.

It also acts as the UK competent authority under the EU Tissue and Cells Directives and the EU Organ Donation Directive.

The Human Tissue Act

The Human Tissue Act 2004 repeals and replaces the Human Tissue Act 1961, the Anatomy Act 1984 and the Human Organ Transplants Act 1989 as they relate to England and Wales, and the corresponding Orders in Northern Ireland. The ULTRA (UK agency) and the post of HM Inspector of Anatomy were abolished and their functions transferred to the Authority.

The Act makes consent the fundamental principle underpinning the lawful storage and use of body parts, organs and tissue from the living or the deceased for specified health-related purposes and public display. It also covers the removal of such material from the deceased. It lists the purposes for which consent is required (the scheduled purposes).

The Act notably prohibited private individuals from covertly collecting biological samples, such as hair and fingernails, for DNA analysis, but excluded medical and criminal investigations from the offence. [2]

Jurisdiction and composition

The act governs England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is separate legislation in Scotland, the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 and the authority performs certain tasks on behalf of the Scottish Government (approval of living donation and licensing of establishments storing tissue for human application). [3]

The Board consists of a chair and twelve members. [4] Ten members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Health, one appointed by the Welsh Government, and one member is appointed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland.

The professional members of the board come from medical and scientific backgrounds, and the lay members bring a wide range of business, commercial and public sector experience.

The current members of the Board are:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ donation</span> Process of voluntarily giving away organs

Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or dead with the assent of the next of kin.

<i>Body Worlds</i> Exhibition of plastinated bodies

Body Worlds is a traveling exposition of dissected human bodies, animals, and other anatomical structures of the body that have been preserved through the process of plastination. Gunther von Hagens developed the preservation process which "unite[s] subtle anatomy and modern polymer chemistry", in the late 1970s.

The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA), and its periodic revisions, is one of the Uniform Acts drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), also known as the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), in the United States with the intention of harmonizing state laws between the states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority</span>

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body that regulates and inspects all clinics in the United Kingdom providing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), artificial insemination and the storage of human eggs, sperm or embryos. It also regulates human embryo research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anatomy Act 1832</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Anatomy Act 1832 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that gave free licence to doctors, teachers of anatomy and bona fide medical students to dissect donated bodies. It was enacted in response to public revulsion at the illegal trade in corpses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Body donation</span> Gifts of bodies for research and education

Body donation, anatomical donation, or body bequest is the donation of a whole body after death for research and education. There is usually no cost to donate a body to science; donation programs will often provide a stipend and/or cover the cost of cremation or burial once a donated cadaver has served its purpose and is returned to the family for interment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alder Hey organs scandal</span> 20th-century human tissue scandal

The Alder Hey organs scandal involved the unauthorised removal, retention, and disposal of human tissue, including children’s organs, during the period 1986 to 1996. During this period organs were retained in more than 2,000 pots containing body parts from around 850 infants. These were later uncovered at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, during a public inquiry into the organ retention scandal.

NHS Blood and Transplant is an executive non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom's Department of Health and Social Care. It was established on 1 October 2005 to take over the responsibilities of two separate NHS agencies: UK Transplant, founded by Dr. Geoffrey Tovey in 1972, and the National Blood Service. Its remit is to provide a reliable, efficient supply of blood, organs and associated services to the NHS. Since NHSBT was established, the organisation has maintained or improved the quality of the services delivered to patients, stabilised the rising cost of blood, and centralised a number of corporate services.

ULTRA, the Unrelated Live Transplant Regulatory Authority, was a British agency that regulated organ transplants. According to the official website:

A tissue bank is an establishment that collects and recovers human cadaver tissue for the purposes of medical research, education and allograft transplantation. A tissue bank may also refer to a location where biomedical tissue is stored under cryogenic conditions and is generally used in a more clinical sense.

Organ procurement is a surgical procedure that removes organs or tissues for reuse, typically for organ transplantation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare</span> International organisation

The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) is a Directorate of the Council of Europe that traces its origins and statutes to the Convention on the Elaboration of a European Pharmacopoeia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Organ Transplant Act of 1984</span>

The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) of 1984 is an Act of the United States Congress that created the framework for the organ transplant system in the country. The act provided clarity on the property rights of human organs obtained from deceased individuals and established a public-private partnership known as Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). The OPTN was given the authority to oversee the national distribution of organs.

In December 2006, The UK Government set up the Organ Donation Taskforce to identify barriers to organ donation and recommend actions needed to increase organ donation and procurement within the current legal framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Tissue Act 2004</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Human Tissue Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that applied to England, Northern Ireland and Wales, which consolidated previous legislation and created the Human Tissue Authority to "regulate the removal, storage, use and disposal of human bodies, organs and tissue." The Act does not extend to Scotland; its counterpart there is the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament to consolidate and overhaul previous legislation regarding the handling of human tissue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013 is an act of the National Assembly for Wales, passed in July 2013. It permits an opt-out system of organ donation, known as presumed consent, or deemed consent. The act allows hospitals to presume that people aged 18 or over, who have been resident in Wales for over 12 months, want to donate their organs at their death, unless they have objected specifically. The act varies the Law of England and Wales in Wales, which relied on an opt-in system; whereby only those who have signed the NHS organ donation register, or whose families agreed, were considered to have consented to be organ donors.

Organ donation is when a person gives their organs after they die to someone in need of new organs. Transplantation is the process of transplanting the organs donated into another person. This process extends the life expectancy of a person suffering from organ failure. The number of patients requiring organ transplants outweighs the number of donor organs available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994</span> Act of the Parliament of India

The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 is the Law enacted by the Parliament of India and introduced by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare dated 4 February 1994, which deals with the transplantation and donation of 11 human organs and tissues of an alive donor or deceased person. This act is applicable to only those Indian administered states where the act has been adopted or enforced by the state governments. But it applies to all Union territories.

Organ donation in India is regulated by the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994. The law allows both deceased and living donors to donate their organs. It also identifies brain death as a form of death. The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) functions as the apex body for activities of relating to procurement, allotment and distribution of organs in the country.

References

  1. "Arm's length bodies". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  2. "Human Tissue Act", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 2004 c. 30
  3. "Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006: A Guide to Its Implications tor NHS Scotland" (PDF). Human Tissue Authority. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  4. "Biographies | Human Tissue Authority". www.hta.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2018.