Patient and transplant staff experiences with TBS
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patient and transplant staff experiences with liver transplantation and the transplant benefit score
IRAS ID
313601
Contact name
Ewen Harrison
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's Medical Research Institute
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
This research study considers patient and transplant staff experiences of liver transplantation and the introduction of the Transplant Benefit Score (TBS). The study will employ qualitative interviews with transplant patients and clinicians. The study will focus on their experiences with the new system of liver allocation in the UK, the TBS. The TBS, which was introduced in March 2018, is a far more algorithmically complex allocation system, and offers less physician autonomy and patient right of appeal, than the previous UKELD allocation system.
As an enquiry into how this method of organ allocation affects ethical issues surrounding the staff-patient relationship, conceptions of the role of transplant staff, and informed consent and patient autonomy, it is hoped that these interviews and their analysis will be valuable for their own sake. But it also forms part of qualitative data collection for a wider PhD project entitled ‘Artificial Intelligence and Ethical Decision-Making in a Resource-Limited Health Care Environment’. The wider project aims to synthesise philosophical bioethics, in-depth qualitative interviews, and public deliberative processes, to arrive at recommendations for the ethical use of AI in healthcare resource allocation. Whilst the TBS is not Artificial Intelligence (AI), ethical issues often raised around the introduction of AI in healthcare – for example relating to opacity, interpretability, informed consent, and the role of medical staff – may be present in TBS. Investigating the impact of TBS can play a role in informing how AI can be ethically implemented in the NHS in the future.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/YH/0136
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion