Date set to automatically enrol everyone as organ donor

THE majority of England’s 56million population will automatically be enrolled as organ donors in May, unless they choose to opt out, the Health Secretary has confirmed.

The Government will ask MPS to approve that the system of deemed consent comes into force on May 20, as part of a move designed to boost the number of transplants on the NHS.

It is estimated that the opt-out method, known as Max and Keira’s Law, after a boy who received a heart transplant and the girl who donated it, will lead to an additional 700 transplants each year by 2023.

If Parliament approves the date, May 20 will mark the point at which all adults in England will be considered to have agreed to donate their own organs when they die, unless they explicitly state otherwise or are in an excluded group.

Ministers said the change, brought about through last year’s Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act, would be a significant step towards helping the 5,200 people in England who are on waiting lists for life-saving or life-enhancing transplants.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said: “Too many people lose their lives waiting for an organ, and I’ve been determined to do what I can to boost organ donation rates.”

Safeguards in the deemed consent scheme mean children under 18 will be excluded, as will those who have lived in England for less than a year, along with people who have “lacked capacity for a significant time”.