Heartbeat: Changes to organ donation team as David comes back ‘home’

April 1, 2019

It’s all change within the organ donation team, with two new members joining our organisation.

David Cumpston and Alison Morris will jointly take over as specialist nurses for for organ donation (SNOD) as we wave goodbye to Judith Martin this month. Both started at the beginning of March and have a wealth of experience.

For David he will be returning back to his roots after he started his career at SWB as a healthcare assistant and went on to complete his nurse training, working across both sites.

“It feels like I’m coming back home,” said David. “I saw an opportunity to return to the organisation and I took it. I really like it here and I’m glad to be back again.

“The key message from organ donation continues to be the same,” he told Heartbeat. “Both myself and Alison will look after City and Sandwell, as well as Birmingham Children’s Hospital. “We will continue Judith’s good work here and will work with colleagues in identifying families of patients who could be referred to us.

“It’s about giving those loved ones the opportunity to know about organ donation and how it can help other patients.”

David and Alison are encouraging clinical colleagues to speak to them about potential families. He added: “Once a patient’s family has been identified, we are able to spend time with them and talk to them about organ donation. It is a difficult conversation, but we have the time to do this. We just need them to be referred.”