A new system for organ donation that will save hundreds of lives came into law, with the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill receiving Royal Assent on 15 March 2019. Royal Assent means the bill became an Act of Parliament and the law takes effect from 20 May 2020.

The Organ Donation Act means adults in England will be considered potential donors unless they chose to opt out or are excluded. The act is known as Max and Keira’s law in honour of a boy who received a heart transplant and the girl who donated it.

There are more than 6,000 people currently waiting for an organ in the UK. Three people die each day while on the waiting list. The new law will help to reduce the number of people waiting for a life-saving transplant.

Everyone in England over the age of 18 will be considered to be in favour of donating their organs and tissues after death unless:

• they have said they don’t want to donate their organs (they have “opted out”)
• they have appointed a representative to decide for them after their death
• they are in one of the excluded groups – under the age of 18, ordinarily resident in England for less than 12 months before their death, or lack mental capacity for a significant period before their death

The family of the deceased will always be consulted first and they will still be able to provide information on their loved one’s wishes. If they have information that their loved one would not have wanted to donate their organs or tissues, organ donation will not go ahead.

When the law was passing through Parliament, the government agreed that the law would only apply to routine transplants, and not novel or rare transplants. Novel or rare transplants will still require express consent. This means you or someone representing you must explicitly give permission for your organs or tissues to be donated for novel or rare transplants. Such transplants also cover what is called Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP). This is when tissues, cells and genes are manipulated in a laboratory for treatment of a disease or injury. Some of the tissues and cells come from deceased donors.

Although 80% of people say they would be happy to donate their organs after their death, only 37% are registered as donors. To increase the number of donors, the government changed the law in line with what the majority of people want to do.

What are routine transplants?

These are transplants that happen frequently and have been part of organ donation for a long time. They are:

• heart, transplanted either as a whole organ or for heart valves
• lung(s)
• liver, transplanted either as an organ or for liver cells – unless the liver cells are for use for an ATMP
• kidneys
• pancreas, transplanted either as a whole organ or pancreatic cells – unless the pancreatic cells are for use for an ATMP
• intestinal organs (small bowel, stomach, abdominal wall, colon, spleen)
• eye
• nervous tissue
• arteries/veins/blood vessels
• bone
• muscle
• tendon
• skin
• rectus fascia (tissue that encases abdominal muscles)

Contact us for more information about the new legislation.