Blood and organ merger scrapped

The federal government has scrapped plans to merge the nation's blood and organ donation authorities.

The plan to merge the National Blood Authority and the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority was announced in the government's 2014/15 budget and slammed by Labor as a short-sighted move following a drop in organ donation rates in 2014.

The mid-year budget update on Tuesday reveals the government will no longer proceed with the merger, but says some savings and efficiencies will be achieved by merging the corporate services of the agencies.