Today marks the beginning of organ donation week.

CHF is thankful to donors who have donated their hearts and saved the lives of children and young people.

CHF also wants to encourage people to make an informed decision about whether they want to donate their organs after death, and once that decision has been made to tell their family of that decision so no recipient misses out unnecessarily.

Next year the law relating to organ donation will change in England.

From spring 2020, organ donation in England will move to an ‘opt out’ system. You may also hear it referred to as ‘Max and Keira’s Law’.

This means that all adults in England will be considered to have agreed to be an organ donor when they die unless they have recorded a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.

The law is being changed to help save and improve more lives. Every day across the UK, someone dies waiting for a transplant.

However, the new law does not apply to children, a child needing a heart transplant will need a child donor, like Max.

In circumstances where a donation decision is required for someone under 18, the family will be asked to make that decision and provide consent.

The NHS Organ Donor Register is open to everyone, regardless of age. If a child wants to register their decision, or the parent of a child wants to do that for them, this option is available. The information recorded on the NHS Organ Donor Register is accessible to the specialist nurses in organ donation who approach the family about the possibility of organ donation.

NHS blood and transplant website

So encourage your friends and relations to talk to their healthy children about organ donation, if they are old enough and to make sure they register their decision.