Organs: Donors
(asked on 1st February 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to help improve public awareness of organ donation.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) promotes organ donation in a number of ways including Organ Donation Week in September and the ‘Leave them Certain’ campaign.
NHSBT launched a multi-channel campaign to inform the public of the change to an opt-out system for organ donation in May 2020. Figures indicated 75% of the population were aware of the law change in December 2020.
NHSBT’s Community Investment Scheme has a specific focus on engaging with Black and South Asian communities. The programme supports 35 grassroot, community and faith-based organisations to raise awareness of organ donation, seven organisations have received a share of £100,000 funding for living donation.
Since September 2021, organ donation and transplantation has been taught as part of the secondary school curriculum in England, aimed at promoting awareness in young people.