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Government welcomes taskforce report on Organ Donation

Alan Johnson has called for 25 million people to be on the organ donor register by 2013.

An organ donation awareness campaign that will see nearly half the population recruited on the organ donor register was announced today by Health Secretary Alan Johnson. He welcomed the Organ Donation Taskforce Group report, which does not recommend introducing an opt out system for organ donation in the UK at this time.

The report 'The potential impact of an opt out system in the UK', published today, has concluded that introducing an opt out or 'presumed consent' system in the UK at the present time, whilst having the potential to deliver benefits, may not increase organ donation rates and might cause significant complications.

The Government is not ruling out a future change in the law, and may need to revisit this issue if progress against national objectives is not as swift as it should be.

It is hoped that donor rates will rise from the current 800 to 1,400 per year by March 2013, which would put us on a par with the best in Europe. On average, each donor can help three people in need, so this could mean an extra 1,800 people a year get the chance of the transplant they so desperately need.

£4.5m funding has been made available over the two years 2008-2010 for a major campaign starting in March 2009 to make people aware of the importance of organ donation.

The Government is firmly committed to seeing organ donation rates rise significantly and is fully supporting the implementation of the recommendations in the taskforce's first report. A large programme of work is already well underway, which should deliver the increase in donor rates without the need to change the law.

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• Report from the Organ Donation Taskforce