Transplantation is a health issue that affects many people every year with a patient waiting for an organ, or people becoming a donor. Even though like all illnesses it effects many people from the patient and their family to the donor and their own family. One healthy person if they decide to do so could save many lives with being a donor, but in a whole year one week is dedicated to the awareness of transplantation (8th-14th July 2013) compared to other health issues that have a month dedicated to the cause. This is not a mere comparison to the length of time to dedicate to awareness, but more about what people actually know afterwards.
In one week the public are told individuals stories of how a transplant changed their lives and it does speaking from personal experience, but to just say ring this number and be a donor is simply not enough. Alright there is an agreement that donor registration increases in that one week, but after it does not seem to have the same impact because people forget about the information and instead their own personal issues take hold in arguing on why they should not. As a whole it is a personal choice on whether to join or not because we all have free will to make a decision.
When the decision to become a donor is made for people, then there is still an option to opt out of the register. This situation has happened in Wales and it will be a few years till it will exist in Wales, but for those on the register it is a welcoming sign. Overall changes are forthcoming to the way the donor system will be handled in Wales, it is just on whether the other parts of the UK will follow suit.
An increase in the information that the public receives would make a major difference in making information easily accessible and possibly look at the reasons why people will not be a donor and to try and abolish myths and replace them with the factual evidence.