Licences to drive up organ donation

People will have to answer questions about organ donation before they can complete their driving licence application through the DVLA website from today (1 August) – in a bid to drive up numbers on the organ donor register.

Driving licence applicants will have to tick one of three boxes to answer a question on organ donation before they can complete their application: 

• Yes, I would like to register
• I do not wish to answer this question now; or
• I am already registered on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Many people who currently apply for a driving licence either miss or ignore the organ donation question. The new page simply requires people to answer the question about joining the register before they can continue with their application.

It is hoped that the change will double the percentage of people choosing to join the organ donation register when applying for a driving licence.

Sally Johnson, Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), said: “This trial will prompt everyone applying for or renewing their driving licence online to take the positive step and sign up.

“Around 8,000 people in the UK are actively waiting for a transplant and around 1,000 people die each year while waiting or because they have become too ill and are removed from the list.

“Our focus is to encourage even more people to join the NHS Organ Donor Register. Anyone signing up is urged to discuss their wishes with family and friends to ensure they will support their wishes when the time comes.”

Currently, there are around one million new registrations every year to the organ donation register and half of them come through the DVLA.