Organ donation receives an eye-catching lift at Harrogate District Hospital

Posted on: Thursday 11 Oct 2018

Encouraging people to join the Organ Donor Register has received an eye-catching boost at a Harrogate District Hospital, where two lifts have been  wrapped with a striking organ donation message.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust is working with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) to promote organ donation, and two lifts at the hospital’s main entrance have been wrapped.

The attention-grabbing message includes information on how to join the Organ Donor Register, as well as a QR bar code allowing visitors to scan with their smartphones to join. The idea of the lift wraps is to encourage people who are waiting for a lift to think about joining the Organ Donor Register. The lift wraps have been commissioned by the Trust’s Organ Donation Committee, which aims to encourage, promote and open the door to organ donation across the Trust.

Dr Martin Huntley, Clinical Lead for Organ Donation and Organ Donation Committee member at the Trust, said: “We are delighted that the message about organ donation is receiving an eye-catching lift at Harrogate District Hospital.

“We hope the initiative will catch the attention of employees, patients and visitors to the Hospital to think about organ donation and sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register.

“Thanks to NHSBT for their support in designing the artwork for the lift wraps.”

Michelle Bennett, Hospital Development-Nurse Practitioner with NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “Organ donation saves lives and one organ donor can save or transform up to nine lives, and even more by donating tissue as well.

“I know that more families agree to donation if they know their loved one was on the Organ Donor Register. Save your family from having to guess what you would have wanted. Join the NHS Organ Donor Register and let your family know your decision. One day it could be someone you love in need of a transplant.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough parliamentary constituency was recently revealed as one of the top ten places in England for the number of donors on the Register – with 85,719 people registered across the district.

Sign up to be an organ donor today by visiting www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ or call 0300 123 23 23 for more information.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Jamie Wright, Communications and Marketing Assistant, [email protected] and 01423 557732.

Pictured: Dr Ros Tolcher, Chief Executive and Angela Schofield, Chairman of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, with colleagues from the Trust’s Organ Donation Committee with the lifts in the Main Entrance of Harrogate District Hospital.

Notes to editors: NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care. NHSBT improves the supply of donated blood, organs and tissues, and raises the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of blood and transplant services.