Donate Life Week

Tasmanians are being urged to sign on as organ and tissue donors, with new data released today to mark the start of DonateLife Week 2021.

The new DonateLife data shows just how many residents in each Tasmanian postcode signed on as organ and tissue donors last year. (See below for each local government area).

Anyone aged 16+ can register, it only takes one minute at donatelife.gov.au/register

There are currently 1,800 Australians on the transplant waitlist and an additional 12,000 people on dialysis for kidney failure. The number of Australians signing on to become organ and tissue donors dropped by 16% last year as the COVID-19 pandemic grew.

There are 13 million Australians aged 16+ who are eligible to register as organ and tissue donors, but haven’t. The Great Registration Race for DonateLife Week is encouraging 100,000 more Australians to register as organ and tissue donors.

DonateLife State Medical Director Dr Andrew Turner said when Australians are registered, their family have one less decision to make during the highly emotional time in their lives.

“The biggest barrier to families saying ‘yes’ to donation is not knowing their family member was willing to be a donor,” Dr Turner said.

“In a hospital setting, discussing organ and tissue donation comes at an intensely emotional time for families, usually associated with the unexpected death of their loved one.

“When donation is a possibility, it helps when families know what their loved one wanted. Across Australia we know that 9 in 10 families give consent to donation when their loved one was a registered donor, and this number is halved when a person is not registered and has not discussed donation with their family.

“With a consent rate of 74% in Tasmania in 2020, I urge residents to join the Great Registration Race for DonateLife Week to register if you haven’t already, or to check you’re registered if you think you are. It only takes one minute online to do either.”

DonateLife Week runs from Sunday 25 July until Sunday, 1 August.

Tasmania – numbers of people in Tasmania who registered as organ and tissue donors on the Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR) in 2020, according to LGA

Please note: The below table shows estimated 2020 registrations, not the total number of people in each LGA who are on the AODR – who had registered before 2020. Exact total registrations by LGA are unable to be compiled due to population migration and postcode changes. Registrations are captured by postcode and mapped to LGA using ABS population estimates. This means all registrations are estimates and a number of registrations where the registrants postal address is a PO box are excluded as these postcodes do not have a corresponding resident population.

Anyone aged 16 and over can register on the AODR. The population data for each LGA can only be provided for those 15+, and is listed below as the closest population measure.

Data sources: Services Australia (AODR) and ABS (population).