CWU Supports 2017 UK Organ Donation Week
Health & Safety September 5 2017NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) have welcomed the ongoing working partnership with the CWU at today’s launch of the 2017 Organ Donation Week.
The CWU, one of the UK’s major Trade Unions, takes the Health, Safety and Wellbeing of its large membership and families very seriously and places such matters high on the agenda.
The CWU signed a formal partnership with NHSBT in 2016, making the CWU the first Trade Union to agree such an initiative with NHSBT.
The CWU annually campaigns to raise awareness and have promoted organ and blood donation to their members since the decision of CWU annual delegates conference in 2011. This is done via Letters to Branches, CWU ‘Voice’ monthly magazine and via the Website plus importantly local Branch activities cascading information on the importance of blood and organ donation..
The CWU has worked jointly with employers to run joint health awareness campaigns of which organ and blood donation is included through their campaigns, run by the CWU’s Health and Safety Department and through the Equal Opportunities Department to help spread the message of donation across the Union, seeking to promote blood and organ donation discussions within families and people volunteering in order to overcome the shortage or organ donors.
More than three families a week are saying no to organ donation because they didn’t know what their relative wanted. This means around 460 lifesaving organ transplants are being missed each year. Left with the burden of making a decision for someone they love, the families decide it is safer to say no. NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has revealed the figure today, to mark the launch of the 2017 Organ Donation Week (September 4 to 10) and is urging people to tell their families they want become lifesaving organ donors. The reluctance to talk about the issue is contributing to a deadly shortage of organs and leaving families to make a difficult decision when someone they love dies.
457 people died last year while on the active transplant waiting list and a further 875 people were removed from the list, mainly due to ill health with Many diying shortly after being removed. There are currently 6,414 people waiting for a transplant.
It’s a tragedy that hundreds of people are dying unnecessarily every year waiting for transplants. NHSBT tell us that if everyone who supported donation talked about it and agreed to donate, most of those lives would be saved.
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) surveys show more than 80% of people support organ donation but only around 49% of people have ever talked about it. Research shows that women are 30% more likely to start a conversation about organ donation than men.
Families who agree to donation say it helps with their grief and that they feel enormous sense of pride at knowing their relative gave others the chance of a new beginning and Life!
Donating an organ can quite simply transform someone’s life. The CWU encourages every member to use this opportunity to talk to their family about their wishes – a simple conversation could make such a big difference.
Dave Joyce CWU National Health and Safety Officer said “This Organ Donation Week is about urging people to tell their family that they want to save lives. And if you are unsure about donation, please ask yourselves as a family; what would you do if one of you needed a transplant? Would you accept a lifesaving organ? If you’d take an organ, shouldn’t you be prepared to donate? This campaign is about raising awareness of the importance of blood and organ donation amongst our membership and we will continue to campaign alongside NHSBT and other organisations to achieve this. We have a diverse membership and we want our members to step forward and help save the lives of others by becoming blood and organ donors.
I hope other Unions will see what we are doing and follow our lead.”
17LTB473 UK National ‘Organ Donation Week’ 4-10 September 2017