WESTERN AUSTRALIA STATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR Dr Bruce Powell CLINICAL NURSE MANAGER Melissa Smith FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT STAFF 8.82 AGENCY-BASED 7.08 NUMBER OF DONATELIFE HOSPITALS 11 NUMBER OF DECEASED DONORS IN 2016 503) NUMBER OF TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS IN 2016 (TOTAL: 1,447) Service expanded During the year the DonateLife WA Donor Family Support Coordinator participated in Advanced Care Planning workshops conducted by Palliative Care WA in metropolitan and regional centres of the state. This complements the work being undertaken by DonateLife WA to embed consideration of organ and tissue donation as a routine part of end-of-life care. New hospital increases donations St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospital opened in November 2015 as Perth’s newest hospital. The DonateLife WA team met with various stakeholders and conducted education sessions throughout the hospital. To date there have been three organ donors and two tissue donors at the hospital, which is a testament to the engagement between the hospital’s team and the team at DonateLife WA. Education and collaboration Two perioperative workshops on organ and tissue donation were successfully conducted in 2016–17 at the St John of God Midland Hospital and the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. The evaluations indicated that the professional needs of the participants were met. Musicians ‘Bird & Boy’ entertain the audience at the 2016 Honour Ceremony 2016 Health Minister Jon Day launches the Writing for Life competition with DonorMate’s Peter Chwal and a young recipient City of Perth Council House lights up for DonateLife Week 2016
NORTHERN TERRITORY STATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR Dr Sarah Jones PROGRAM MANAGER Lee Wood FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT STAFF 5.72 AGENCY-BASED 1.21 HOSPITAL-BASED NUMBER OF DONATELIFE HOSPITALS 2 NUMBER OF DECEASED DONORS IN 2016 6 (TOTAL: 503) NUMBER OF TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS IN 2016 18 (TOTAL: 1,447) Community education Education and awareness-raising continued to be a priority for DonateLife NT this year. We participated in the NT Show Circuit, held displays at conferences, and undertook promotional activities through a variety of media and forums. DonateLife NT was a major sponsor of the Top End Gran Fondo, a high- profile local cycling event with over 500 participants. Indigenous education DonateLife NT began its Indigenous education program this year with a presentation to the Top End Health Aboriginal Cultural Advisory Group. We also presented to Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service, attended the men’s health promotion night at the Titjikala community, and visited Bathurst Island with a local Indigenous kidney recipient, to undertake education activities. The participation of local Indigenous transplant recipients in our Indigenous education activities has been a key to our success in this area. Donor family and recipient support In November 2016 a Thank You Day event was held at Lake Alexander in Darwin. Many local donor families attended, as did a number of prominent local dignitaries. To further commemorate donors and their families, Service of Remembrance ceremonies were held at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens and the Alice Springs Olive Pink Garden. Outdoor broadcast during DonateLife Week at the Royal Darwin
DONATELIFE FORUM The 2017 DonateLife Forum was held on 11 May at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, with a theme of ‘Where to from here?’ The forum attracted over 300 delegates from the organ and tissue donation and transplantation sectors, the intensive care community, community organisations, donor family members, transplant recipients and OTA staff. The event enabled these delegates to come together to share experiences and ideas on how to better implement and further embed the national reform program into clinical and community practice. Invitations to participate in the forum were extended to community members this year for the first time. The previously named DonateLife Network Forum was renamed the DonateLife Forum to reflect this more inclusive approach and the forum program included presentations relevant to both the clinical and community sectors. The positive collaboration demonstrated on the day was impressive. It provided a platform for our future efforts to consolidate and on our significant past achievements, and to drive the reform program forward. COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE A Community Consultative Forum on contact between donor families and transplant recipients was held on 17 March 2017. It provided an opportunity for sharing and open discussion about different Australian stakeholder experiences, perspectives and insights into the complex issue of direct contact between families and recipients. It was also an opportunity to improve knowledge of this issue, and promote awareness and understanding of the diversity of public opinions among different stakeholder groups. Participants at the included donor families, transplant recipients, peak bodies, governments and the DonateLife Network. The forum provided an opportunity for all participants to share their different perspectives and views on identity disclosure, communication, and contact between families and recipients. Dr Helen Opdam (National Medical Director), Dr Dale Gardiner (United Kingdom Deputy National Clinical Lead for Organ Donation), and Dr Sarah Jones (NT State Medical Director) at the DonateLife forum
OBJECTIVE 3 ENHANCE SYSTEMS TO SUPPORT ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION AND TRANSPLANTATION Any system requires constant quality review and improvement to ensure greater clarity about what is expected and available and to ensure that the process works more smoothly. 3.1 Improve utilisation of retrieved organs and tissue There is continuing research into new techniques and technologies for the preservation of retrieved organs and utilisation of tissue for transplantation. In 2016–17 the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand convened a workshop to discuss the role of machine perfusion in the preservation of deceased donor organs in Australia. were a number of initiatives in 2016–17 to provide ongoing guidance on organ and tissue donor and recipient eligibility and allocation. Among these, we have started working with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Department of Health to review the ethical guidelines for organ and tissue donation and transplantation from living and deceased donors. 3.2 Enhance the safety of organ and tissue donation and transplantation The Australian Vigilance and Surveillance Framework for Organ Donation for Transplantation was completed in 2016. We are now working towards a nationally integrated Vigilance and Surveillance System, with the aim of improving the safety of people receiving donor organs in Australia. The Vigilance and Surveillance Expert Advisory Committee will be established in 2017–18 as a critical component of this framework. 3.3 Improve the efficiency of organ and tissue donation and transplantation The DonateLife Network (DLN) provides organ and tissue donation services across Australia. As donation activity increases, the needs to continually adapt and change. A number of initiatives have supported the provision of donation services across Australia over 2016–17. These include the provision of funding to employ DLN staff and to assist with costs additional to those normally incurred in the care of critically ill patients. Another initiative is the development of the Electronic Donor Record eye module. Throughout 2016–17 we developed a range of new reports, dashboards and publicly accessible fact sheets to enhance the understanding of organ and tissue donation and transplantation, and to inform clinical practice improvement at the hospital level. As donation activity increases, there is a flow-on effect which increases the demand for downstream retrieval and transplantation services. This has workforce and resourcing implications for state and territory governments. In 2016–17 we continued to work with jurisdictions and the donation and transplantation sectors to address retrieval and transplantation capacity and resourcing requirements arising from the increase in organ and tissue donation rates. Life Port kidney transport device