Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 10;81(1):88.
doi: 10.1186/s13690-023-01099-y.

NHS staff awareness, attitudes and actions towards the change in organ donation law in England-results of the #options survey 2020

Dorothy Coe  1 , Natasha Newell  2 , Mark Jones  3 , Matthew Robb  3 , Natalie Clark  4 , David Reaich  4 , Caroline Wroe  5
Affiliations

NHS staff awareness, attitudes and actions towards the change in organ donation law in England-results of the #options survey 2020

Dorothy Coe et al. Arch Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: In Spring 2020 there was a change in organ donation legislation in England (UK). Much is known about public opinions to organ donation and the change in legislation, however, there is little evidence about the opinions of the NHS workforce. This study set out to understand the levels of awareness, support and action of NHS staff to this change and explore the impact of respondent demographics, place and type of work on awareness, support and action.

Methods: An online survey was offered to all NHS organisations in North Thames and the North East and North Cumbria through the NIHR Clinical Research Network between July and December 2020. Participating organisations were provided with an information package and promoted the survey via email and internal staff communications. Associations were compared univariately using chi-square tests and logistic regression was used for multivariable analysis to compare findings with NHS Blood and Transplant public Kantar survey data.

Results: A total of 5789 staff participated in the survey. They were more aware, more supportive, more likely to have discussed their organ donation choices with family and more likely to be on the organ donor register than the public. This increased awareness and support was found across minority ethnic and religious groups. Those working in a transplanting centre were most aware and supportive and those working in the ambulance service were most likely to 'opt-in' following the change in legislation.

Conclusions: NHS staff in England were well informed about the change in organ donation legislation and levels of support were high. NHS staff were six times more likely than the public to have a conversation with their family about their organ donation choices. The size and ethnic diversity of the NHS workforce offers an opportunity to enable and support NHS staff to be advocates for organ donation and raise awareness of the change in legislation amongst their communities.

Keywords: Education; Legislation; National Health Service; Organ donation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no completing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Support of NHS staff to the change in organ donation legislation by Ethnicity, September-December 2020
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Actions taken by NHS staff in England regarding organ donation, September-December 2020
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. NHS Blood and Transplant. Organ Donation and Transplantation Activity Report 2019/20.NHS Blood and Transplant.
    1. NHS Blood and Transplant. Annual Report on the Potential Donor Audit. 2020.
    1. Curtis RMK, Manara AR, Madden S, Brown C, Duncalf S, Harvey D et al. Validation of the factors influencing family consent for organ donation in the UK. Anaesthesia. 2021;:anae15485. - PubMed
    1. de Moraes EL, dos Santos MJ, de Barros e Silva LB, de Lima Pilan LAS, de Lima EAA, de Santana AC et al. Family Interview to Enable Donation of Organs for Transplantation: Evidence-based Practice. Transplant Proc. 2018;50:705–10. - PubMed
    1. Organ Donation Taskforce. The potential impact of an opt out system for organ donation in the UK. An independent report from the Organ Donation Taskforce. 2008.

LinkOut - more resources