TUESDAY, 03 SEPTEMBER, 2019

For immediate release. Photo attached: Launching Organ Donation Week at NHS Tayside. From left to right: Pauline Ireland, committee support officer, Dr Pauline Austin, consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine, Sid Grant, Revival chairman, Lynne Cunningham, support and advocacy officer, Lynne Malley, specialist nurse organ donation, Dawn McKay, specialist nurse organ donation and Sharon Muirhead, tissue donor coordinator.

NHS Tayside supports Organ Donation Week

NHS Tayside is supporting Organ Donation Week from 2 to 8 September with information stands at Ninewells Hospital and at the Dundee Food and Flower Festival in Camperdown Park.

This Organ Donation Week, people across Scotland are being encouraged to think about their organ donation decision and to share their decision with their families to ensure that the decision is honoured.

Scottish organ donation law is changing from autumn 2020 to help save and improve lives. The change in law means that if people have not confirmed whether they want to be an organ donor, it may be assumed they are willing to donate their organs or tissue when they die. Every adult in Scotland has a choice and people can record their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register at any time: organdonationscotland.org  

NHS Tayside Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Dr Pauline Austin said, “One organ donor can save or transform up to nine lives and transform even more by donating tissue. A donation changes not only the life of the recipient but also their family and friends. Organ and tissue donation remains an act of great generosity.

“Many people think they would be unsuitable to donate organs and tissues because of medical history or lifestyle choices, but each potential donor is individually assessed and we need people from all ethnicities and backgrounds to register. Joining the organ donor register takes about two minutes but those two minutes could quite literally save a life.”

There will be an information stand on the main concourse at Ninewells from Tuesday, 3 September to Friday, 6 September, from 10am to 3pm, and in the main marquee at the Food and Flower Festival in Camperdown Park from Friday 6 September to Sunday 8 September. The stands aim to raise awareness of why it is important to join the organ donor register, share how successful transplants are and why it is so important that people discuss their decisions with their families.

There is a shortage of donors in Scotland with more than 580 people waiting for a transplant and sadly some patients die whilst waiting.

Everyone is encouraged to sign up to the organ donor register regardless of their ethnicity, body shape, size or medical history. Through one organ donor, up to nine lives can be changed and many more if tissue is donated. All the major organs including kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas and the small bowel can be transplanted. Last year, organ donation changed the lives of 440 people in Scotland.

You can register to be a donor at organdonationscotland.org  

Contact:

Carin Pettersson

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 740716