Thanks to the generosity of 513 donors, and their families who said yes to donation, 1,396 Australians received a life-saving organ transplant in 2023.
The release of the 2023 Australian Donation and Transplantation Activity Report highlights continued recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, but there is more to do to do.
With a 13% increase in deceased organ donation, and a 14% increase in the number of people who received a transplant from 2022, this is the strongest result seen since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020.
Very few people will be in a position to be an organ donor – only around 2% of people who die in hospital can be considered. The national consent rate remains a challenge and increasing the number of people and families who say yes to donation is critical to saving more lives. Only 55% of families said yes to donation in the hospital last year, down from 59% pre-pandemic.
Around 8 in 10 families say yes to donation if their family member is registered. This drops to 4 in 10 if their family didn’t know they wanted to be a donor.
Registering and telling your family that you want to be an organ and tissue donor is easy. It takes just three taps to register on the Medicare App, or just one minute at donatelife.gov.au.
Quotes attributable to the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney:
“In 2023 nearly 1400 lives were saved by the gift of organ donation. On behalf of these people, I would like to profoundly thank all organ doners and their families.
“There are around 13 million Australians aged 16 and over who are eligible to register as an organ and tissue donor.
“I call on all Australians to use this as a reminder to register and tell your family that you want to be an organ and tissue donor. It’s easy and only takes one minute at donatelife.gov.au or on the Medicare app.”
Links:
2023 Donation and Transplantation Activity Report: www.donatelife.gov.au/2023activityreport
2023 Statistics in Australia: https://www.donatelife.gov.au/all-about-donation/statistics-in-australia