Call for more people in Derbyshire to become organ donors

More lifesavers are needed to sign up during Organ Donation Week.
Stock image - Donor CardStock image - Donor Card
Stock image - Donor Card

Monday, September 5 to Sunday, September 11 is Organ Donation week, previously known as Nation Transplant Week and NHS England and the North Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning are trying to get as many people to sign the register to donate.

Sally Johnson, director of Organ Donation and Transplantation said “We hope people across the UK will get behind the week and the opportunity it presents to focus people’s attention on organ donation. People waiting for transplants depend on people being willing to donate their organs and sadly on average three people die every day across the UK due to a shortage of donated organs.”

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Donation is giving an organ or tissue to help someone who needs a transplant to save or greatly enhance the lives of other people. But this relies on donors and their families agreeing to donate their organ or tissue.

There are three different types of donation:

Brain stem death - This is where a person no longer has activity in their brain stem due to a severe brain injury. They have permanently lost the potential for consciousness and the capacity to breathe. This may happen even when a ventilator is keeping the person’s heart beating and oxygen is circulated through their blood. Circulatory death - Is the irreversible loss of function of the heart and lungs after a cardiac arrest from which the patient cannot or should not be resuscitated. It can also be the planned withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from a patient within the Intensive Care Unit or the Emergency Department.

Living donation - Whilst you are still alive you can choose to donate a kidney, a small section of your liver, discarded bone from a hip or knee replacement and also your amniotic membrane (placenta).

The NHS will only use organs and tissue from a donor with their consent or with their family’s consent after they die. Consent can be given by; Joining the NHS Organ Donor Register; telling a relative or close friend about your decision to donate.

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Everyone can join the NHS Organ Donor Register regardless of age, as long as they are:

Legally capable of making the decision, and live in the UK.

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Having a medical condition does not always prevent a person from becoming an organ or tissue donor. At death, a qualified doctor responsible for your care will decide whether some or all organs or tissue are suitable for transplant.

People cannot become an organ donor if they have: HIV, (in some circumstances people with HIV can donate to another person who already has HIV), or

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), or Cancer that has spread in the last 12 months.

To sign up click here