Health Organ Donation Week


too, along with tissues such as corneas, heart valves, skin, bone and tendons.


BECOMING AN ORGAN DONOR


Joining the Register


expresses your wish and legal authorisation to donate organs.


Organ Donation Week (previously National Transplant Week) runs from 4th-10th September this year. This awareness week is vital because organ donation is still mired in myths. But it saves lives, and that life could be yours or that of a loved one.


96% of us would take an organ if needed. Yet only 29% of us are on the Organ Donor Register.


“People waiting for transplants depend on people being willing to donate their organs and sadly, on average, three people die every day across the UK due to a shortage of donated organs,” says Sally Johnson, Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant.


THE NEED FOR DONATIONS In the UK, fewer than 6,000 people a year die in circumstances where they can become a donor and many are unregistered.


There are currently 6,342 people on the UK transplant waiting list. During the last financial year, over 400 people on the waiting list died.


The most commonly transplanted organs are the heart, kidney, lungs and liver. But the pancreas and small bowel can be transplanted


46


Everyone who is legally competent can register, irrespective of age and health. However, you cannot become an organ donor if you have Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), cancer that has spread in the last 12 months or HIV (although you may be able to donate to another person who has HIV).


Although children can register, their parents or guardians are still asked for consent before donation occurs – except for Scotland, where parents or guardians of children aged 12 and above can’t legally overrule their wish to donate.


Donation of organs usually occurs after brain stem death (permanent loss of brain activity) or circulatory death (irreversible loss of heart and lung function).


However, currently living donors outnumber deceased donors from either group. So, what’s ‘living donation’?


LIVING DONATION


In 2016/17, 950 people became living donors. Living donors can donate a kidney, a small part of their liver or discarded bone (after a replacement operation). If you have a planned caesarean, you can donate blood from the umbilical cord after birth. This contains stem cells that can treat life- threatening diseases like


leukaemia.


Living donation is particularly vital for the 5,000 people in the UK who need a kidney transplant. Last year, more than 250 patients died waiting for a kidney. Donating your kidney straight to a recipient you know is called directed kidney donation.


“We hope people across the UK will get behind the week and the opportunity it presents to focus people’s attention on organ donation,” says Sally Johnson.


HOW TO REGISTER AS AN ORGAN DONOR You can register online at www.organdonation.nhs. uk/register-to-donate/ or at your GP surgery. You can also register when applying for a driving licence, European Health Insurance card (EHIC) or Boots Advantage card.


Wales adopted a soft opt-out policy in 2015. If you don’t opt out of organ donor registration, you’re presumed not to object to being a donor.


HOW TO DONATE ORGANS OR TISSUES AS A LIVING DONOR: To donate organs, contact the transplant centres listed at www. odt.nhs.uk/transplantation/ transplant-units-in-uk/


To donate tissues, contact the National Referral Centre on 0800 432 0559 or email: national.referral.centre@nhsbt. nhs.uk.


For more information, visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk www.nhsbt.nhs.uk www.organdonationscotland.org (Scotland)


organdonationwales.org (Wales)


By Alison Runham www.alison.runham.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60