Tim

Brief Outline:

Tim is a Specialist Nurse in organ donation

Tim, specialist nurse, talks about the organ donor register.

Hi, I am Tim. I’m a specialist nurse in organ donation.

Organ donation in the UK is now an opt out system. So all adults are presumed to consent to organ donation in the UK unless they register a decision not to donate.

So there are multiple ways you can register your decision. The most helpful for us is to document your decision on the organ donor register.

It’s also possible to notify us via your gp, via the DVLA when you apply for, or you renew, your driving license. Now, via the passport office, when you apply for or renew your passport, the register records your decision to whether or not you wish to donate your organs after you die.

It’s also then something that allows us to share that decision with your family. Families tell us when we have a conversation with them, if you are unfortunately at the end of your life in the intensive care unit, families say that having this information available to them really helps reassure them, as they can be really overwhelmed at this early stage of their bereavement.

And during this crisis we are able to show them your organ donor registration. And this is something that can also help them have conversations with the rest of their families as well.

So to let them know that you want to do this amazing thing and it’s a really amazing and emotional thing for all of us.

Tim discusses organ donation.

So it’s our main job is to care for you and make sure that your decision is upheld at the end of your life. And we also provide support and care to families at their most vulnerable to support your decision.

Families can find that the process really overwhelming, exhausting, confusing, and this is why it’s always so important to share your decision with them in life. So it makes it easier for them to support your decision at this important time.

It’s not very normal for people to talk about death. It’s not a very normal to talk about organ donation and we know that organ donation is an incredibly rare thing. Not a lot of people are actually able to do it.

So rather than focusing on the end of your life and the grief that they’re experiencing, we have conversations with them, which really focuses on, being able to save the lives of others, trying to, to highlight the legacy that  you are leaving when you donate your organs.

And really trying to support families in supporting this, this positive move, this positive decision that you’ve made to change your story. And, and the stories of others, saving lives through the gift of organ donation.

Tim a specialist nurse in organ donation explains deemed consent.

Hi, I am Tim. I’m a specialist nurse in organ donation.

Organ donation in the UK is now an opt-out system. So all adults are presumed to consent to organ donation in the UK unless they register a decision not to donate.

So there are multiple ways you can register your decision. The most helpful for us is to, um, is to, to document your decision on the organ donor register. It’s also possible to notify us via your GP, via the DVLA when you apply for or you renew your driving license, via the passport office, when you apply for or renew your passport.

The register records your your decision to whether or not you wish to donate your organs after you die. It’s also then something that allows us to share that decision with your family. Families tell us when we have a conversation with them, if you are unfortunately at the end of your life in the intensive care unit, families say that having this information available to themreally helps reassure them as they can be really overwhelmed at this early stage of their bereavement.

And during this crisis, we are able to show them your organ donor registration.

And this is something that can also help them have conversations with the rest of their families as well.

To let them know that you want to do this amazing thing, and it’s a really amazing and emotional thing for all of us.

Tim discusses the role of the family in organ donation.

The law’s changed. It’s now the role of the family to support the decision of their loved ones. They’re important. They’re an essential part of, of the process to make sure that organ donation, if it can happen, it can happen safely.

So we need to, to work with families to gather as much information as possible. This happens at an incredibly stressful time. What we want to do is take the burden off of them to support them through this sad time. And when they’re dealing with grief and the loss of a loved one, in order to donate your organs, you will have to die in an intensive care.

This is a rare and unfamiliar environment, so it’s important for us to be able to provide the necessary support that’s required from your family.

It’s really important to take the pressure off of families. When we go through, when we initiate the process of organ donation, that’s why it’s so important to to let them know of your decision. So, so this isn’t new news to them. And we can work together to ensure as little stress and the pressure is taken off them as possible at this sad time.

Tim talks about why families decline organ donation.

Families can often feel overwhelmed and in shock. They may have not been anticipating that organ donation would be brought up. It’s incredibly rare. People don’t know much about organ donation. They know a lot about transplant but organ donation is something that’s rarely discussed.

In order to be a potential donor, you have to die in very specific way. Some families really struggle when they hear more about the process, which is involved in retrieval. For example, time is necessary to to match the organs  to recipients, and to prepare for the the operation.

We also need to work with specialist surgical teams who come from around the country. They need to be mobilised in order for the retrieval of your organs.

Once we’ve found people who you’re able to help through your donation and their transplant, this can be really tough on families. Many don’t like to think about surgery. They can be really exhausted, having been with you through your intensive care stay. They just want everything to be over.

So many families get so much back from organ donation. Reassurance that their loved one was able to save other people’s lives and there’s a legacy to what you’ve done.

So much easier for families to to know what their relatives wanted if they didn’t know. It makes them difficult. They feel as if they have to make a decision on your behalf.