A report into organ retention practices at Irish hospitals has found that almost 21,500 organs from deceased patients are being held by 36 hospitals and five universities across the State.
The independent audit, commissioned by the Health Service Executive, found procedures and practices in postmortem services at Irish hospitals had improved significantly since 2000 when revelations emerged that hospitals had retained the organs of deceased patients without consent for postmortem examinations.
The audit was led by Michaela Willis, a former member of both the Human Tissue Authority in the UK and the Retained Organs Commission, which previously oversaw similar audits in England.
The report found that 2,274 organs have been retained by three hospitals since the controversy came to light in 2000.
It also identified a number of issues at the Rotunda hospital in Dublin, relating to consent and delays in carrying-out examinations, which prompted a separate investigation.
The investigation into postmortem practices at the hospital found there were weaknesses in the consent policy as well as variations between the terms of the consent given by families and the postmortems carried out.
It said there were delays in carrying out examinations and delays in implementing family instructions for respectful burial of organs or tissues.
The report said the issues at the Dublin hospital arose from “individual professional practice, poor post-mortem systems and weak management and governance oversight”.
These issues, however, have subsequently been rectified to the satisfaction of the audit team.
The separate Carter report shows that there were a large number of cases of organ retention for which no consent had been given by families.
In a statement released this afternoon, Dr Sam Coulter-Smith, master at the Rotunda, apologised on behalf of the hospital to all the families who have been affected by the issue of organ retention.
Dr Coulter-Smith said the hospital had reviewed in detail every case identified in the report and said that some organs had been returned to parents since the audit was completed last year.
Ms Willis's main report found there were 21,487 organs retained in the Sate at the time of the audit, some 78 per cent of which or 16,759 related to the pre-2000 period.
Despite the improvement in services identified since the pre-2000 period, the report said there existed opportunities for further improvement of postmortem and bereavement services. It identified a number of priorities which for national action plan which could be adopted by the HSE.
Following publication of the report, the Labour Party called for the early introduction of promised legislation to ensure that no postmortem can be carried out ot tissue retained, without proper authorisation.
"While I accept that organ retention can be required for research purposes, I believe that many people will be surprised at the level of organ retention disclosed in the audit, with over 21,000 organs being held at the time of the audit," said the party's health spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan.
She said that a legislative framework to regulate the area, which was recommended in the 2006 Madden Report, has yet to be introduced.
"There must be a far more urgent approach to the publication of this legislation to ensure that the abuses of the past are never repeated and that the wishes of families are fully respected," added O'Sullivan.