Organ donation 'prompt' piloted

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31 December 2010 at 10:56

Driving licence applicants will have to respond to an enquiry regarding organ donation from July.

Under the prompted choice system, launched by the DVLA, applicants will be required to either choose to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register, say that they have already registered or defer the decision until a later date by stating they do not want to answer the question right then.

Only 27% of people in the UK are currently registered with the NHS as donors, but studies have shown that a far larger proportion are in favour of donating body parts.

The current system allows applicants to skip over a question on donation when applying for a driving licence.

But it is hoped that the new pilot scheme will encourage more people to sign up to give their vital body parts to help others in the case of their own death.

Getting more people to sign-up could save the lives of some of the 8,000 people in the UK currently waiting for a transplant.

Prompted choice schemes in the US have seen a bump in registrations.

In Illinois, the percentage of donors has increased from 38% to 60% since 2008 following the introduction of a similar initiative.

Copyright © Press Association 2010