'I seldom get to meet patients waiting for a transplant but I know they are counting on me'

Three people a day die waiting for a transplant.

This week is Organ Donation Week. Every year, it’s an opportunity for us to reflect and look ahead. Front and centre in our minds are the patients and their families who selflessly donate organs after death, and those patients desperately waiting for a transplant. With only around 1% of people dying in a way that enables them to become an organ donor, we think deeply about the work we have done, are doing and still need to do to ensure the opportunity to donate and save as many lives as possible.

This year is particularly poignant as the world moves out of the COVID-19 pandemic and we see the impact on donation and transplantation. Although organ donation continued throughout the pandemic, many patients did not get the transplant they need. There are now over 7,000 patients in the UK on the active transplant waiting list. 

Support for donation has also started to wane, with the current consent rate being around 65%. Following Northern Ireland’s change in legislation earlier this year, all four UK countries now operate an opt-out system, which assumes consent unless an individual has registered their decision not to be a donor. Even with this change in the law, we are still finding that families are looking for certainty of their loved one’s decision to become an organ donor. This is why throughout Organ Donation Week, we will be encouraging everyone to make their decision explicit by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register.

As Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), it is my privilege to lead one of the largest and most highly respected organ donation systems in the world, and nurses have played a pivotal role in the success of the service. 15 years ago, NHSBT put in place a nursing leadership and management structure and started to directly employ specialist nurses in organ donation (SNODS).  These highly skilled, dedicated professional nurses have a unique role in advocating for the donor, their loved ones and the recipients. They are expert in navigating the donation pathway and there to support families at a most difficult time in their lives, working collaboratively with the hospital clinical team to approach families about organ donation and support them through the process. At the same time, they provide clinical advice and undertake a comprehensive assessment to ensure the organs so generously donated can be safely and effectively transplanted. I am in awe of the work that SNODs do in juggling the caring, clinical, legal, ethical and logistical responsibilities, often all happening within just a 24-hour period.  

My role is to ensure that the nurses and colleagues who work in the organ donation service have what they need to do this great work. Every day, I am motivated to work to the best of my ability on behalf of the patients waiting for a transplant. That I don't know who they are and seldom get to meet them – but know that they are counting on me and our service – only serves to drive the passion in me and my colleagues.

Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation is a truly fascinating and life-affirming area of health care. But none of it would be possible without the selfless donors and their amazing families who, at the worst possible time in their life, think about those in need of a transplant. In this Organ Donation Week, please think and talk about organ donation and register your own decision.

Anthony J. Clarkson FRCN (2020), Director, NHSBT

Organ Donation Week runs from 18-24 September. For more information, visit NHS Organ Donation.