Overview
- Assistant Coroner Adrian Farrow issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report after concluding the inquest on February 26 into the 2024 death of 14-year-old Maisie Almond.
- Evidence presented to the inquest described a national shortage of donor livers, with guidance limiting circulatory-death donors for super-urgent paediatric cases and living donation generally not used in such emergencies.
- A consultant told the court donor availability has fallen by about a third, extending waits in super-urgent cases from an expected 48 hours to as long as a week.
- NHS Blood and Transplant said the total number of donor livers has dropped by around 12% since the pandemic, reported a median four-day wait in 2018–19 and 2022–24, and highlighted efforts to increase split-liver use and organ viability through perfusion.
- The inquest found no underlying cause for Maisie’s acute liver failure; she was listed super urgent on September 27, a match was identified on October 1, and she died on October 2 after cerebral oedema and other organ damage meant transplantation was no longer viable.