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22,480 people register as organ donors during first two days following the launch of the CMO’s Annual Report 2006

  • Last modified date:
    20 July 2007

How to solve the chronic shortage of organ donors is one of five new topics that feature in the Chief Medical Officer’s 2006 Annual Report, On the state of public health. The report was launched on Tuesday 17 July 2007.

In the chapter, Organ Transplants: The Waiting Game, Sir Liam Donaldson calls for replacing the current organ donor system, which requires people to opt in, with a carefully managed opt-out system.

During the first day of the launch the subject, and Sir Liam’s proposed solution, prompted widespread discussion throughout the media.

But the proposal also acted as an immediate ‘call to action’ for many of those who say they would be willing to donate their organs to save the life of another person, but who have not yet registered.

On the first day of the launch, the NHS organisation UK Transplant registered a record-breaking 15,719 new donors online. This is roughly equal to the total number of people who registered online as organ donors, during the whole of the final quarter of 2006-2007.

Registrations received via the organ donor phoneline were also in record numbers. The NHS Organ Donor Register took around 4,000 phone enquiries, and 1,404 of these callers registered as organ donors.In total, 17,123 new organ donors were added to the register on Tuesday.

New organ donor registrations were also well above normal on Wednesday when 4,734 people registered online and 623 via the phoneline – giving a total of 5,357 new registrants that day.

How can I register as an organ donor?

The UK Transplant website provides lots of information about how to register as an organ donor. You can also register as an organ donor via the website.

You can also register by telephone. The NHS Organ Donor Register phoneline is open 24 hours a day. The telephone number is: 0845 60 60 400.

On the state of public health: Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer 2006

An online version of the Chief Medical Officer's Annual Report 2006 is available on the Department of Health website.

Accompanying the report this year, are a series of video podcasts in which Sir Liam Donaldson discusses the Annual Report and some of this year's topics.

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