Record organ donation rates
Seventy-three people became deceased organ donors in 2017 – an increase of 19.7 per cent from 2016, latest figures show.
Since 2013, New Zealand’s deceased organ donor rates has increased 103 per cent.
Organ Donation New Zealand donor coordinator Janice Langlands said the 2017 figures were ‘‘very encouraging’’.
Helping drive the increase in donor numbers is a quality improvement programme rolled out across the country’s intensive care units.
The education-focused initiative aims to help ICU staff identify potential organ donors.
For a person to be a deceased organ donor, they have to be on a breathing machine in an intensive care unit, and usually have severe brain damage.
In 2017, 61 people donated following brain death and 12 donated after circulatory death.
New Zealand rates of donation after brain death rank favourably alongside the United Kingdom and Australia.
Langlands said donations after circulatory death was a more challenging pathway to organ donation but could help New Zealand lift its overall donation rates.
Meanwhile, the first lung donation after circulatory death carried out in New Zealand in 2017 was a major milestone, Langlands said.
In addition to organ donation, Organ Donation New Zealand facilitated 60 tissue-only donations from people who died at home, in a hospital ward or at a hospice.