Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to address the shortage of organ donors.

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

UK Government provides NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) with around £60 million to support organ donation. In July 2013, NHSBT launched a new United Kingdom–wide organ donation and transplantation strategy Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020 developed by NHSBT with the support of 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.

Changing behaviour and attitudes towards organ donation is a key feature of this strategy. From 7 – 13 September this year, NHSBT ran a successful campaign for National Transplant Week entitled ‘7 Days to say Yes I DOnate’. NHSBT wants to get the whole nation talking about organ donation and to encourage people to share their decision on what they want to happen after they die. Last year’s National Transplant Week campaign achieved higher levels of social media engagement than ever before, and media coverage reached 82% of adults.

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 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 NHS Organ Donation Register via Government owned channels such as applying for a driving licence and paying car tax online.