PEOPLE are being urged to talk to their families about organ donation to increase the number of people whose lives can be saved or transformed in a week dedicated to the selfless act.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Blood and Transplant are encouraging people to have the conversation during Organ Donation Week, which began on Monday.

Next year, the law around organ donation is changing in England. From spring 2020, all adults in England will be considered as having agreed to donate their own organs when they die unless they record a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.

In the lead up to the change in law, NHS Blood and Transplant is urging families across England to talk about their organ donation decision, with the campaign message ‘Pass it on’.

Even after the law has changed, families will play a pivotal role in the donation conversation and will be spoken to before organ donation goes ahead.

A recent survey of adults in England for NHS Blood and Transplant found that while 84 per cent agreed it was important to let those closest to you know your views on organ donation, only 40 per cent had shared their organ donation decision with their family or partner.

More and more families in Hampshire are saying yes to organ donation, but there is still an urgent shortage of donors. Hampshire Hospitals, which runs hospitals in Andover, Basingstoke and Winchester, is asking people in the region to tell their families they want to donate to help make sure more lives are saved.

Anthony Clarkson, director of organ donation and transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We are very grateful to Hampshire Hospitals for its support during Organ Donation Week.

“Register your organ donation decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell your family the choice you have made. If the time comes, we know families find the organ donation conversation with nurses or medical teams much easier if they already know what their relative wanted.”

Find out more and register your decision by visiting NHS Organ Donor Register at organdonation.nhs.uk.