Message from the OTA's CEO
Dear DonateLife Team,
I hope you’re all doing well. Things certainly haven’t slowed down since our last update.
While this is our April update, like many of you I’ve just returned to the office from Melbourne where I was pleased to officially open and take part in our Donation and Transplantation Conference, so wanted to share some initial thoughts and photos!
It was such a fabulous opportunity to come together with so many of you, I had so many lovely chats in the breaks – thank you. I enjoyed hearing informative sessions from our experts, sharing new initiatives, best practices, and learning about novel ideas and approaches in the areas of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. The theme of the conference, ‘Back to the Future’, looked at what we have achieved and learned especially during the complexities and challenges of COVID-19, and looking towards the future — how we can work together, setting out a path to return donation and transplantation to pre-pandemic levels of activity.
I hope you got as much out of it as I did. For those of you that couldn’t join us, or missed a session, they were all video recorded and they will be shared, along with all of the photos taken over the two days, as soon as they have been processed.
In other news, I thought you may like some insight into our committee governance space, at the end of a busy first quarter, with several key committee meetings held since the beginning of the year. This includes the Advisory Board, Jurisdictional Advisory Group, Clinical Governance Committee, Vigilance and Surveillance Expert Advisory Committee, the Transplant Advisory Group and the Community Engagement Group.
Collaboration with our stakeholders is integral to the implementation of the national program and our advisory committees provide valuable advice and recommendations to support the delivery of the national program. Most of these meetings have been in Canberra, so it’s been great to meet once again face-to-face in these forums and engage in some quality discussions and debate. A key focus of these forums has been strategies for recovery from COVID-19 and increasing donation rates to pre-COVID levels.
We have also just completed the Progress report meetings for the July-December 2022 period. Every six months we ask the state/territory health rep with the DonateLife Leadership to provide us with a progress report on their performance against the implementation of the national program. We then come together to discuss the report and performance against key performance indicators in the Clinical Practice Improvement Program (CPIP), and to reflect on the successes and challenges over the period. The meetings provide a great opportunity to discuss any issues associated with the implementation of the CPIP and areas for improvement.
In the community engagement space, it was fantastic to be joined by the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Ged Kearney MP, to kick off the Gift of Life Walk in Canberra in March. We were joined by ACT’s Minister for Health Rachel Stephen-Smith, the Co-Chair of the federal Parliamentary Friends and the ACT MLA Tara Cheyne along with many other walkers, including donor families and transplant recipients were there. It was great seeing many of the OTA and DonateLife ACT staff walking as well. DonateLife was involved in walks across the country. OTA Advisory Board Member Margie Kruger organised a walk in Brisbane and it was attended by around 160 people. And last week, there was another great Gift of Life Walk from Freshwater to Curl Curl in Sydney. It is great how well the walk is spreading across Australia.
I’ve also attended the World Transplant Games hosted by Transplant Australia in Perth in mid-April. Transplant recipients travelled from all over the world to compete in these fabulous games. There were also a number of living donors and deceased donor families competing. Of course, there were many families and friends there also. The Australian Team Dinner at the Mounts Bay Sailing Club kicked off the spirit of the games the night before the games started -it was a lovely opportunity to meet the Aussie Team, hear their stories and feel the excitement in the room. A highlight for me was the DonateLife 5km Fun Run from Kings Park. It was so great to see costumes and smiling faces everywhere. A call out to DL WA, especially Simon Towler who took on the oversight of medical support.
Warm wishes,
Lucinda
What's coming up
Conferences and webinars
|
Date |
Activity |
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On-demand |
The MOHAN Foundation, in association with Commonwealth Tribute to Life Project, webinar ‘Non-directed Altruistic living donation’. |
|
On-demand |
BTS/NHSBT Joint Congress 2023 – Free webinar |
|
17-20 June |
TSANZ 41st Annual Scientific Meeting (Brisbane) |
|
20-22 July |
A Joint ANZICS Safety & Quality Conference 2023 (Darwin) |
|
18-21 October |
ISODP 2023 16th Organ Donation Congress (Las Vegas) |
|
26-27 October |
Transplant Nurses Association National Conference 2023 (Sydney) |
Year to date data: January – March 2023
Donation and transplant outcomes to end of March, while lower than pre-COVID outcomes, are similar to last year.
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102 deceased donors for Jan-Mar, a 2% decrease on the same period in 2022 (104)
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283 transplant recipients for Jan-Mar, a 1% increase on on the same period in 2022 (280)
The DonateLife Audit data to the end of February 2023 shows a national consent rate of 56%, consistent with 2022. Other key metrics include:
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78% overall referral rate, down from 82% in 2022
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79% of staff raised discussions involved a Donation Specialist Nurse, down from 80% in 2022.
Shining a spotlight on eye and tissue donation
Today kicks off our spotlight week where we are shining a light on eye and tissue donation.
Increasing awareness about eye and tissue donation, and encouraging families to talk about donation and registration, is vital. We want more people to say yes to donation.
During last year’s spotlight week, our social media posts were liked, shared and commented on by 15,000 people. These same messages were seen 394,000 times. This was a heartening result for our first eye and tissue week.
You can get involved this week by downloading posters, an email signature block and social tiles from the website. Please also follow along on our social channels and share our messages to raise awareness of eye and tissue donation.
Community engagement
Coinciding with the Gift of Life Walk in Canberra was the first face-to-face Community Engagement Group (CEG) meeting since 2019. It was fantastic to see everyone in person once again and to have them join us on the walk. In addition to sharing updates the CEG heard from two of our 2022 Community Awareness Grant recipients and an update from the DonateLife First Nations Engagement Group.
In case you missed it, Assistant Minister Kearney announced the 2023 Community Awareness Grant recipients sharing in $368,000. This year the grants will deliver youth-focused social media campaigns and content, along with research projects, and digital educational resources – we can’t wait to see what they deliver.
The First Nations Engagement Group (FNEG) have appointed ABSTARR consultancy to assist with improving national clinical and community engagement. ABSTARR recently delivered cultural safety education sessions with around 40 staff from OTA and the DonateLife agencies. The next steps include developing a framework providing guidance to continue this important work.
The A Leagues team have developed a ‘swiper game’ through their KeepUp app promoting registration. Promotions are in full swing including in-stadium advertising at all matches, social media, direct emails and upcoming digital advertising through their website and app. Big thanks to the NSW team who are supporting us with on-site promotion at the women’s and men’s finals in April and May.
Preparations are also underway for DonateLife Week 2023, and we look forward to sharing more about the campaign, and ways you can get involved in the next Update.
Network news
DonateLife ACT
Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving – 11 February
We recently held our Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at the National Gallery of Australia. The Service was attended by approximately 170 people, our largest for many years. Feedback from multiple sources was that the legislative changes allowing donor family stories (and pictures) to be shared made for a more meaningful event.
A big thank you to DLACT Family Support Coordinator Sean Dicks for creating an honest and moving event. We also thank DLACT DSNC Tara Russell for speaking on behalf of the DSNCs.
Multicultural Festival – 19 February
DLACT staff member Wendy and Georgia, a wonderful volunteer, attended the Multicultural Festival recently. It was an extremely busy and successful day. There were lots of interest, a lot of questions, and many registering on the spot via the QR coded banner and brochures. The merchandise was very popular with very little returning to the office! Our DL caps were visible around the city on what was an extremely warm Canberra day. We even had a visit from one of our jurisdictional reps, Kristin Blume.
DonateLife NSW
This month, learn all about DonateLife NSW staff member, Savannah Probert.
Tell us all about what you do
I am a Tissue Donor Coordinator with the NSW Tissue Bank, part of the Organ and Tissue Donation Service. I explore the medical suitability of potential deceased eye, bone and skin donors and assist in providing corneal grafts for those on the transplant waiting list in NSW.
What makes you happy to come to work?
I’m delighted to say that my colleagues are a group of caring and passionate individuals. The office filled with a balance of like-mindedness and intellectual challenges. Even when we face difficult tasks, it’s impossible not to smile and laugh when we’re together.
Now, what’s the tricky bit?
Whilst we aim to provide a sense of light and hope through donation, at the end of the day, a family is grieving with the loss of a loved one.
Imagine you’ve left NSW Tissue Bank. What would you like colleagues to remember about you?
That I could be depended on to be a supportive team member.
Are you planning any holidays, or have you ventured anywhere recently?
My goal for this year is to go on holiday – preferably somewhere cold. Think snow, fireplaces and hot chocolate.
What is something your colleagues wouldn’t know about you?
That this question has led to the realisation that I over share.
DonateLife NT
FabALICE - 10 March
FabALICE is a multiday family friendly pride festival incorporating a variety of events around Mparntwe (Alice Springs) celebrating inclusivity and diversity of the Red Centre. DonateLife NT held a stall at the opening night markets to raise awareness and to show their support for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Our magenta merchandise and colourful prize wheel brought the attention of passers-by, many stopping to ask questions and to register their wishes. A lot of international workers who are registered donors in their home countries wanted to know how they could register in Australia. People also had question about whether their chronic health conditions and whether would exclude them from donation. As the theme of the weekend was inclusivity, we of course told them that all are welcome by DonateLife. We happily assisted them to register their wishes on the AODR.
Bunnings BBQ - 18 March 2023
We hosted a Bunnings BBQ to increase awareness of organ and tissue donation and to raise money for the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) Campus Greening Project. We included merchandise and AODR brochures so those entering and exiting Bunnings could take what they wanted. Bunnings staff were eager to be involved and wore DonateLife caps throughout the day. There were some great conversations held and we were able to raise $1841 for RDH.
DonateLife QLD
Community Champions
DonateLife Queensland is working on revamping our volunteer program, bringing it into the digital age. We held our first online “Meet and Greet” session recently. Around 20 interested supporters joined us to find out more about our Community Champions volunteer program. The sessions were a roaring success. We received positive feedback from donor families and recipients, many sending us their volunteer application forms following the sessions.
We’re looking forward to rolling out more training opportunities with our new volunteers. We’ll include training on how to speak to the media, hosting a registration stall and how to be a guest speaker.
Gift of Life Walks
Our annual Gift of Life Walk held in Manly grows each year. This is thanks to the dedication and support of donor family and OTA Advisory Board member, Margie Kruger.
This year’s walk saw more than 150 people take part, despite the looming rain and a larger event in the city. It was wonderful to see so many donor families, transplant recipients and supporters walking together to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation.
We were also pleased to see a new walk start on the Gold Coast and will offer further support to this walk in 2024.
DonateLife SA
Closing the Gap Day
On 16 March, Dr Kim O’Donnell and colleagues from Akction2 (Aboriginal Kidney Care Together- Improving Outcomes Now) movement held a stall for Closing the Gap Day 2023 at the Adelaide Show Grounds.
The unique event brings together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages, service providers, health professionals, and academics to promote their partnerships, connect with others and share resources to improve the health and wellbeing of communities.
AKction2 aims to enable Aboriginal kidney patients, their families, health professionals, health services, academics and researchers to collaboratively improve the way kidney care is provided in South Australia. Dr O’Donnell reached out to DonateLife SA to be part of the AKction2 and Adelaide University nursing stall. The team handed out merch, loads of information, and helped to raise awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation.
A big THANK YOU to Dr O’Donnell and her team for a successful day.
DonateLife TAS
Clinical Champions Program 2023
Tasmania’s second Clinical Champions Program is underway, with 18 new participants from ICU, ED and Theatre in all 3 hospitals - North West Regional Hospital in Burnie, the Launceston General Hospital and Royal Hobart Hospital.
Our new participants enjoyed the introductory session in February. There are a further three sessions (1 hour each) providing education on the donation process, and post-case donor family support.
Microsoft teams has supported attendance at sessions for staff across the state. We are also very excited to be offering two external sessions for both new and existing members across Tasmania.
In the first session, a VTIS representative is talking to us about tissue typing and cross matching – a topic our first Clinical Champions Program participants were interested in learning more about.
We have developed some new clinical champions posters for display in ICU, ED and Theatre to help staff identify Clinical Champions in each area, as well as our state-wide DSNCs.
DonateLife VIC
We’re excited to announce that the prompt to register as an organ and tissue donor has now gone live on the Services Victoria app. This is another easy touchpoint to prompt registration, and we’re looking forward to seeing the results.
We have released our first DonateLife Victoria Year in Review report for our stakeholders and partners. This report has been developed to be more transparent with our Health Services colleagues and tell the story of organ donation and transplantation in Victoria in 2022.
Professional Success Program
Part one of our Professional Success Program (PSP) has been completed with nursing and agency staff completing self-assessment and development questionnaire. The PSP addresses a gap in existing professional development and identifies opportunities for career growth.
Through implementing the components of the program, DLV aims to strengthen engagement and well-being, teamwork, culture, prevent burnout, retain staff, and increase productivity.
With part one complete shortly we’ll move to part two of the program which is developing a professional development pathway for nursing staff.
Catch You Latte project
We’ve also launched a Catch You Latte initiative in Victoria. The Catch You Latte project was initiated to build a positive environment by encouraging a conversation with colleagues who you might not regularly meet with. Colleagues are randomly selected by the Education team and DLV team members are notified via email on who they’ve been matched with.
Staff news
Sadly, we’re saying goodbye to our wonderful St Vincent’s Hospital DSNC, Elle Johnston, who is moving back home to Queensland. We thank Elle for her contribution to DLV. She will be missed.
DonateLife WA
Reaching our community
On Friday 5 March, we held a stand at The Heart and Lung Research Institute of WA fundraising event at the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club. This event also promoted the Breaths and Beats Ride for Research cycle event on 7 May, where 30 heart and lung transplant recipients are ride ambassadors.
And, we held a stand the Harmony Day celebrations at Mirrabooka Square on Saturday 25 March.
New starters
Hannah Wilkinson joined DonateLife WA last week as a Donor Coordinator. Hannah is on a 6-month secondment from Fiona Stanley Hospital ICU.
We also welcomed Shanae Abraham, Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer who has joined us from North Metro Health Service. Her primary role is to roll-out the implementation of the Aboriginal Community Engagement plan, developed in conjunction with the new Yarning Resources.
Our new team members took part in the Introduction Donation Awareness Training, where there were a mix of medical, allied health and nursing staff.
WA Parliamentary Enquiry into organ and tissue donation
In February, the Standing Committee on Public Administration established an inquiry into organ and tissue donation in WA. We reached out to our donor families to inform them of the enquiry and how they can prepare a submission. Our team also lodged a submission.
Staff profile - Meet Claire Dowling
What’s your role in the DonateLife Network?
Donation Specialist Nursing Coordinator (DSNC) in South Australia.
What does your role include?
Supporting families through the decision-making process of organ donation, and facilitating donations (including bedside management, transport logistics, medical suitability assessments, organ offering, and theatre coordination), data and audit management, End of Life Service involvement, quality improvement and project management. I also facilitate and deliver education to public and private hospitals, community and school groups, and other health professionals.
What led you to your career?
I have been an ICU nurse since 2009 and have also spent one year at MedSTAR (emergency retrieval service) and the last two years at SA COVID Operations. Working for DonateLife has been a long-term goal so I was delighted to be successful in the latest round of recruiting. DonateLife offers me the chance to combine my clinical and project management skills while providing end of life support to families.
What was your first job?
A sales assistant in a bookshop.
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Early bird, all the way.
Are you a dog person or a cat person (or neither)?
I am well known as a Crazy Cat Lady with two fur babies.
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
To not require sleep
If you could only have three apps on your smartphone, which would you pick?
ABC News, WhatsApp, Spotify
What’s your favourite sport to watch and which team do you barrack for?
Any type of motorsport. I don’t follow any team sports which I know is very un-Australian
What’s one hobby you’d love to get into?
I would like to add mountain biking to my list of hobbies which is already crowded with other activities such as yoga and hiking
What’s the top destination on your must-visit list?
Antarctica
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I try not to sing in public to avoid upsetting people but if I had to pick one it would be Horses by Daryl Braithwaite
Do you have news or feedback to share?
This update is a snapshot of news from across the DonateLife Network. We’d also like to continually improve our monthly update, and we welcome your feedback.
If you have an update to share, get in touch with your state or territory communications rep or email the OTA communications team.
Back to the DonateLife Network update homepage
These updates are distributed to DonateLife staff across Australia, via the contact details within the DonateLife Learning Site. To update this distribution list, please speak to the education coordinator in your jurisdiction. We thank you for not sharing this update with anyone outside of the network.
