ORGAN DONATION IN AUSTRALIA
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- The rate of organ donation and transplantation in Australia is low compared to other countries. In 2008 we ranked 28th in the world with 12.1 dpmp. In 2020 we ranked 18th at 18.2 dpmp. We are behind countries such as Spain, USA, Croatia, Portugal and Italy.
- In 2008 there were only 259 Deceased Organ Donors in Australia, increasing to 463 in 2020.
- If the Australian organ donation system performed as well as the best countries in the world, given our population size there should have been 899 donors in 2020 equivalent to 35 donors per million population (dpmp).
- This would almost double the number of transplant recipients per year and help more than 1,000 Australians who are waiting for transplants.
- Over 12,000 Australian’s suffer each year while they are on transplant waiting lists or dialysis.
- Australia has one of the highest rates of registered donors per capita in the world. Donor registration is not the problem.
- The issue we face in Australia is that a solution to improving the number of organs available for transplant is available, but has not been correctly implemented.
- The solution is the effective implementation of Global Leading Practice, ie the proven in-hospital policies and management protocols that are followed by the best countries in the world.
- A National Reform Package based on Global Leading Practice was introduced in 2008 with the promise of achieving world leading performance by 2012.
- The Organ and Tissue Authority (OTA) has been responsible for implementation of the National Reform Package. Since 2008, over $500M has been spent on the implementation. The budget for 2013/14 was $45.7M and the number of deceased organ donors decreased by 11%. For the calendar year 2014 the number of donors decreased by 3%. In 2015 and 2016 there was quite an improvement as shown in our graphs but levelled off in 2017. There has been a substantial decline for the 3 years since 2018.
- Since 2008 elements of the Reform Package and leading practice were introduced, however due to an inconsistent and incomplete approach across the country the rate of improvement has been slow and opportunities to save lives are being lost.
LEARN MORE…
Review organ donation numbers and transplant recipients, the Quarterly Scorecard, State Performance, and the top 30 performing hospitals in terms of organ donation.
Review where Australia is positioned in the world in comparison to leading performance and organ donation rates in other countries.
Access resources including the Organ Donation for Transplantation Plan 2014-2017 and research articles & links.
Read stories and experiences from organ donation recipients, recipient family members and donor families.