The Australian government is now operating in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions, pending the outcome of the 2025 federal election.
Dear DonateLife team
Welcome to our first update for 2022!
As we are well and truly into the new year and with COVID-19 continuing, I hope that you are all managing ok. While we’re all currently out of formal lockdowns – and we have all had our share of those, some more than others – the widespread disruption and impacts have been felt right across the health sector, including on donation and transplantation. Thank you for your dedication as we continue to navigate these challenges, especially to those of you working on the front line in our hospitals.
On Thursday 17 February, we released our annual data report, revealing the latest stats on donation and transplantation from 2021 – including consent rates, registration rates and the donation pyramid – which informs and helps the public to understand that very few people actually have the opportunity to become an organ donor – only around 2% of those that die in a hospital.
The release of the 2021 Australian Donation and Transplantation Activity Report is an important milestone on the calendar, and the result of true collaboration across the donation and transplantation sector. The last two years haven’t been easy, and I can’t thank everyone enough for all their hard work to keep services going. While we expect a return to pre-pandemic rates of donation and transplantation will take several years, we know we have the right team in the DonateLife network who go above and beyond to optimise every donation opportunity.
You can read more about the key stats below, with links to the report and other information as well as a wrap-up of our media activities.
In early February, we announced that we’d received from the Australian Government a $14.9 million funding boost for Organ Match, our Australian built state of the art software system that continues to improve our matching capabilities between kidney donors and people on the waitlist. Since the system began in 2019, a key highlight has been the 31 highly sensitised patients who have received a kidney transplant, including one who had been waiting 17 years and 12 who had been waiting more than 5 years.
We’re looking forward to being able to add continued functionality to the system, with more detail on the expansion plans outlined below.
You might have noticed that we recently had a bit of a facelift to donatelife.gov.au. We hope that we have made it even easier for the public to find and better understand information about organ and tissue donation in Australia, with improvements designed to help make the decision to register as easy as possible. We are always happy to get your very valuable feedback about the changes or any further improvements.
We send these updates via email and publish online so there is a central place you can refer back to.
As always, we are happy to provide you with any more information you might like to receive, and to include any content you wish share across the network. Please send through any news or information you think would be of benefit to others in the DL network at any time to communications@donatelife.gov.au.
Warm wishes
Lucinda
The 2021 Australian Donation and Transplantation Activity Report outlines Australia’s donation and transplantation rates for last year.
This report provides the latest data on organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation – both deceased and living – that helps to paint a picture of what has happened over the previous year, and we use it to inform ongoing sector improvements.
This is your data we are sharing, from right across the network, and it is an important achievement that we all contribute to to pull it all together. It is a picture of all the valuable work happening right across the sector, which is greatly appreciated.
The report includes consent rates, registration rates and information about the rarity of donation. While it shows a negative impact on donation and transplantation numbers, the rates could have been much worse noting the impacts of COVID, especially in our 2 largest states. These results reflect the hard work and dedication our DonateLife teams. We did have a huge jump in the number of new registrations during 2021. Check it out if you haven’t had a chance to read it.
There has been a great deal of positive national and regional media coverage of the outcomes with several TV interviews, radio spots and print and digital stories. If you’re an early bird, you may just have caught me appearing bright and early on the ABC News Breakfast program on announcement day, and Helen Opdam, our National Medical Director, popping up on The Project’s news segment!
You will see often the media don’t get it quite right in the headlines, (noting it should have been Organ donor registration numbers soar!) but it was once again all positive media with journalists supporting donation and wanting to get others to also.
The Web Coaching program continues to be a valuable resource for all donation nurses to practise their donation conversations in a safe, supportive environment.
Around 96% of program participants have said that the content of the training is highly relevant for them and provides the opportunity for honest and constructive feedback and watching recorded simulations in real time.
The program now has 2 coaches, Bernie Dwyer has now been joined by Bianca Topp , who have session times available for bookings. Both coaches are capable and supportive of modifying the scenarios to suit individual needs.
We encourage all donation nurses to participate in this program, regardless of experience. Our commitment to ongoing learning is what helps us reflect and improve on our donation conversations.
Please book for the web coaching program via the Learning Module Site.
The next phase of the implementation plan for the transition to Virtual Crossmatch (VXM) in the Australian organ donation for transplantation system started on 1 February 2022. In this phase, non-sensitised kidney and kidney/pancreas transplant waitlist patients will cease having a CDC crossmatch and will have a VXM assessment only. Sensitised kidney and all other organ transplant waitlist patients will continue to have both the VXM and CDC assessments.
Find further information on the VXM project.
Phase 1 of the OrganMatch expansion project is well underway!
This includes the development of a new Donation Portal, which for the first time will provide DonateLife Agencies with secure user-based access to the OrganMatch system. The Donation Portal will support Donation Specialist Coordinators in managing the donation process and facilitate the organ offer processes through a secure information sharing platform between the Tissue Typing laboratories, DonateLife and Transplant Units.
In Phase 1, DonateLife Agencies will be able to view Donor Enrolments in their jurisdiction, including being able to see the match event history, as well as being able to view the Organ Offer List all within the Donation Portal. This will see a more efficient communication process between DonateLife Agencies and Tissue Typing Laboratories.
An interface will also be established between the Electronic Donor Record (EDR) system and OrganMatch – to enable a real-time transfer of data from the EDR to OrganMatch. During Phase 1, the interface will automate the Donor Enrolment within OrganMatch, as well as the calculation of the Kidney Donor Profile Index (KDPI). This is expected to greatly reduce the amount of manual processing required by both the DonateLife Agencies and the Tissue Typing labs.
The Donation Portal will be implemented in a staged way nationally, commencing with a trial at the NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service during February and March 2022 – The OrganMatch Enhancement Project team will be in touch with DonateLife Agency managers in coming weeks to discuss implementation plans in each DonateLife Agency.
Further information on the OrganMatch Enhancement Project.
The Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), with support from the OTA, has recently commenced a project to establish robust processes for the ongoing oversight, provision, maintenance, promulgation and implementation of the TSANZ Clinical Guidelines for Organ Transplantation from Deceased Donors (the Guidelines).
A Clinical Project Manager will manage the project and a dedicated project steering group will be established. Congratulations to Emily Larkins who was announced as the successful Clinical Project Manager after a national EOI process and will start in March 2022.
2021 ACT-based Community awareness grant recipient, Gift of Life Inc, is hosting its annual Donate Life Walk in April to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation. This year the walk is virtual, so you can participate from anywhere in Australia!
Get your friends, family colleagues and pets ready, and register for the walk.
Stay tuned, we will soon be announcing our 2022 community awareness grant recipients. We received 56 applications from organisations that can support the community awareness program with events, research, education projects and PR and digital projects – who have expertise in reaching some of our harder to reach audience groups including young people, CALD and First Nations Australians.
We are excited to welcome Mark Saunders as the new Chief Financial Officer with the OTA. Mark will be looking after OTA’s Corporate Programs. Great to have you join us, Mark.
This year, DonateLife in NSW will be attending the Sydney Royal Easter show for the very first time. They’ll be using a combination of outreach methods to engage the public, including survey and check registration/register to spin the wheel for a merch prize. The Show goes for 12 days and we intend to use the volunteer program to help staff the event. In 2021, over 700,000 people attended the Easter Show!
The NSW team is also in the midst of actively recruiting as well as upskilling current volunteers after 2 years of pandemic shut down.
Dr Greg McAnulty has been appointed to the DonateLife Leadership team in the NT State Medical Director role. Since the end of 2015, Greg has worked in Alice Springs Hospital in the Northern Territory, as a consultant in intensive care.
Welcome to the role, and all the best in your new position, Greg!
DonateLife VIC has welcomed a new Nursing Services Manager, Toula Saltas. A warm welcome to your new role, Toula!
On a very sad note, Associate Professor Andrew Hilton was recently farewelled from DonateLife Victoria, passing on January 30 after a long illness. Many of you may have known or worked with Andrew, who will be a big loss for Austin Health and the broader Australasian Intensive Care community. He will be sadly missed and fondly remembered.
DonateLife ACT held a Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving on Saturday 12 February 2022. With COVID restrictions, unrelated protests, and the need to navigate privacy laws, the Service had fewer attendees than previous years. Nevertheless, around 80 people attended, including donor families, recipients and representatives from various groups in the donation-transplantation field.
ACT Minister for Health, Rachel Stephen-Smith, who is committed to and passionate about organ and tissue donation in the ACT, also attended — this was a great opportunity for all attendees to have an informal chat with the Minister. The Service was both informative and compassionate, recognising the value of decisions made by families of organ and tissue donors, and offering some support in relation to their grief.
Pictured: R - Julie Voutos (Clinical Nurse Consultant, Renal Outpatients) with ACT Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith
Dr Nandkuma (Kumar) Raut is an Intensivist who recently started with the team at Fiona Stanley Hospital as a DonateLife Consultant.
Dr Raut is looking forward to being part of the excellent DL WA team, implementing the DonateLife Clinical framework to ensure every potential donor is considered for organ and tissue donation. Welcome to you Kumar.
The Tasmanian DonateLife Team is pleased to welcome Jenna Hughes to the role of DSNC, providing 12 months backfill for another colleague. Jenna is based at Launceston General Hospital and comes to the team after spending the past 10 years caring for patients and supporting their families in ICU, both during the acute phase and longer term. Jenna is looking forward to becoming part of the close-knit DLT team. “Being in a position that will allow me to continue caring for patients and their families and offering them something positive through the gift of donation at a time of grief and loss, will be very rewarding,” Jenna said. In her spare time Jenna likes exploring Tasmania with her family, photography and baking. Jenna is married and has 3 beautiful young children, and a 9-year-old Golden Retriever, Wally.
Where do you work?
I work at the NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service. Our office is based in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah, close to St George Hospital.
What’s your role in the DonateLife network?
I’m the media and communications officer. It is really wide-ranging. Basically, if it’s anything to do with media or publicity for NSW OTDS then I’m the person you need to deal with. There are obvious parts of the job such as dealing with colleagues right around NSW, and of course counterparts in other jurisdictions. But there are also other events such as the annual Remembrance Service, to honour and remember those that have given life through organ donation, which I’m looking forward to being involved with.
What do you love about your role?
The terrific team of people I work with. The nature of the work is also very satisfying.
What’s a work-related accomplishment that you’re really proud of?
Doing a story on a terminally ill university student from Pakistan. The man, barely out of his teens, was too sick to return home and his parents were denied entry to Australia to visit him one last time. Publicity from my story prompted a change of heart and they were able to see him before he died.
What led you to this career?
I’ve always been interested in media. I got into community radio as soon as I left school. I went on to study communications at uni.
What was your first job?
I worked at a pharmacy doing odd jobs while I was still at school. My first real job was in a bank. I worked there for a year before going to uni.
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
I’m a night owl by nature, but at times my work has shown me I can be an early bird when I need to be. (I once had a radio job where I started work at 4am five days a week!)
Are you a dog person or a cat person (or neither)?
Cats. I do love dogs, but cats are just as adorable don’t need to be walked regularly.
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
To be able go back in time so that when I get “l’esprit de l’escalier” (a French term that’s hard to explain in English – just Google it!), I can think of that perfect thing to say, and then say it at the time I actually need to!
If you could only have three apps on your smartphone, which would you pick?
Radio Garden, Podcasts, Spotify, Flashscore (Wait, that’s four!)
What’s your favourite sport to watch and which team do you barrack for?
Rugby League – Canterbury. (With also sympathies for St George, Newtown, Glebe and the London Broncos – I love too many!)
What’s one hobby you’d love to get into?
I’ve always loved maps and travel. People say I’d enjoy geocaching or orienteering. So maybe one of those should be the next project.
What’s the top destination on your must-visit list?
The Trans-Siberian Railway. Anyone I’ve ever met who’s done it says it’s brilliant.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Hey Jude, The Beatles
