Q&A with DonateLife Tasmanian medical director Dr Andrew Turner

Dr Andrew Turner: We really want to encourage people to register on the Australian organ donor register. That process has been made even simpler this year by going to register.donatelife.gov.au. You need your Medicare number and your date of birth.

CD: What is your role within DonateLife?

AT: I have a dual role that sits within the hospitals in Tasmania, but also a role nationally at the Australian organ and tissue authority. 

I work with the DonateLife agencies here to look at all the systems that look at organ donation ensuring that where possible organ donation is raised, and raised appropriately, with family members at the correct time. But I also work at a very clinical level, ensuring the system is safe and equitable throughout the state. And finally, the support for the donor families.

CD: What was the idea behind the establishment of DonateLife?

AT: In the past, there were a number of organisations that promoted awareness about organ donation. Kevin Rudd actually needed to have some surgery on his heart years ago – he required a human valve for his heart. That tissue provided to him actually came from a donor, so he then decided, really, what Australia needed was a more national approach to organ donation. So he then created DonateLife agencies in all Australian states and territories.

CD: A lot of people still think they can just tick a box on their driver’s licence, but that’s not the case anymore, is it?

AT: In the past, all of the states and territories had the ability to tick a box on their driver’s licence, but that disappeared a number of years ago when a single Australian register was set up.

One of the main driving forces for that is that if people move from state to state, there is a central register that retains information, instead of a driver’s licence in one state that might be null and void in the next state.

CD: Are there more people signed up now than there were prior to the establishment of DonateLife in 2010?

AT: There’s a steady increase in the number of registrations. At the moment, something like 47 per cent of Tasmanians over the age of 16 are on the Australian organ donor register. We would like that to be significantly more than 47 per cent.

We’re doing well though. We’re the second highest state for people that have registered. 

CD: Do you have a figure of how many successful transplants there are in Tasmania?

AT: Most people don’t realise how rare organ donation is. A lot of people believe it is a common occurrence. The total last year was 503 donations so you’re really looking at one-and-a-half a day.

Tasmania, up until 30 June, had 13 donations, which is actually, compared to the rest of Australia, quite a high rate. So when you’re looking at 13 for the 12 months. From those 13 donors, there were 39 people that received transplanted organs and had a change in their life.

CD: What is your message for Tasmanians who aren’t signed up?

AT: Encouraging people to discover some facts about organ donation and know what they’re making a decision about. Once they’ve discovered the facts, make a decision. Register on the organ donation register.

Have that discussion with your family. Let your family know about your decision to be an organ donor and also, to be fair, ask them what their view is so if you’re ever in a position where a doctor is asking you whether they’d want to be an organ donor, you’d know what the answer is because you’ve had that discussion with them.

CD: Anything else you’d like to add?

AT: It’s really obvious, nationally, that a person is much more likely to need a transplant than ever be asked to donate. That’s reflected in the number of 1400 currently on the waiting list for a transplant, compared to the 500-odd outcomes for donors last year.

We are asking for support from the community to bridge that gap between the number of people that are waiting, and potentially increasing the number of people that are able to say, ‘yes’ if they’re in the position where they’re being asked to donate.

It’s really up to the community now to embrace this concept.