NEXT week (September 3-9) is Organ Donation Week 2018, this year’s campaign is called Words save lives because the more people talking about organ donation with their families the better.
Over the course of next week organisations will come together to raise awareness of the important need for families to talk about organ donation to help save lives.
The SNJ will be supporting this campaign by sharing facts, information and our readers’ stories in an attempt to highlight the importance of organ donation and encourage more of our readers to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.
Last year over 34,000 people joined the NHS Organ Donor Register during Organ Donation Week 2017, a huge testament to the work that took place all across the country to get people talking about organ donation, and supporting the cause.
As part of our coverage over the week the paper will look at what motivates people to donate, and what questions our readers may have.
But first we thought we’d see how many of our readers have signed up to be organ donors.
According to statistics published by the Office of National Statistics the population of Stroud District in 2011 was 112,779.
And figures published by the NHS 56 per cent of the district’s population*, or 62,693, are currently on the NHS Organ Donor Register as at 31 March 2018.
*percentages are approximate and population growth has not been taken into consideration.
Additionally, as of July 31 this year 10 people from the district are currently on the active transplant list.
Comparatively it’s estimated that just 38 per cent of the population of England were registered on the donor list as of last March.
Congratulations to those across the Stroud District who are bucking the trend.
But the SNJ is interested to know how our readers measure up to the national statistics, will you fill out our poll below to help us find out?
For more information about Organ Donation Week 2018 and to find out how to register you can visit organdonation.nhs.uk
Are you on the NHS Organ Donor Register? Let us know by completing the poll below, please feel free to tell us more about your decision in the comments section of this article:
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