Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage organ donation.

We are supporting a number of initiatives to raise awareness and to encourage more people to consent to organ donation.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) launched a new United Kingdom wide organ donation and transplantation strategy in July 2013. Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020 was developed by NHSBT and the four UK Health Departments. The strategy sets the agenda for increasing organ donation and transplantation rates to world class standards over the next few years.

In 2014 NHSBT ran a successful campaign during National Transplant Week entitled ‘Spell it out’. This encouraged people to tell their friends and family once they have signed up to the Organ Donation Register (ODR). Last year’s campaign achieved higher levels of social media engagement than ever before, and media coverage reached 82% of adults. This year National Transplant Week takes place 7 – 13 September.

In July we also launched a modern ODR system which will enable people to make their wishes about donation much clearer and also link better with social media and donation partners, record more information such as ethnicity and religion and promote organ donation across the UK.

The Department also supports a number of initiatives to raise awareness in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities to become donors. Less than 5% of deceased organ donors are BAME, yet patients from BAME communities represent around a quarter of people waiting for a transplant.

NHSBT also works collaboratively with a number of partners in the private, public and third sectors to promote organ donation, such as Boots Advantage Card. People can also add their name to the ODR via Government-owned channels such as applying for a driving licence and paying car tax online.