Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the final wishes of people in relation to organ donation in the absence of a decision recorded on the NHS Organ Donation Register following the transition to an opt-out system.

The new consent arrangements for organ and tissue donation that the Government aims to introduce from spring 2020, known as ‘opt-out' or ‘deemed consent’, mean that all adults over 18 will be considered potential organ and tissue donors after death, unless they make a decision that they do not want to be a donor, they have nominated a representative to make a decision on their behalf after death, or are in an excluded group.

A decision either to donate or to not donate organs and tissues can be made by recording a decision on the Organ Donor Register, or in other ways, both written and verbal, including telling your family.

Under the new arrangements, the family of the deceased will continue to be consulted and they will still be able to provide information about their loved one's wishes. If they have information that their loved one would not have wanted to donate their organs, organ donation will not go ahead.