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 improve public awareness of organ donation.
NHS Blood and Transplant promotes organ donation through a range of campaigns such as Organ Donation Week in September 2021 and ‘Leave them certain’. A comprehensive campaign to raise awareness of organ donation took place preceding the change to deemed consent in England in May 2020. In December 2020, research indicated that 75% of the population were aware of the change.
NHS Blood and Transplant’s Community Investment Scheme has a specific focus on engaging with black and south Asian communities. The programme supports 35 grassroots, community and faith-based organisations with £100,000 committed to raising awareness of living donation. From September 2021, organ donation and transplantation is being taught as part of the secondary school curriculum in England, aimed at promoting awareness in young people.