Skies turn pink in Sandwell and West Birmingham for Organ Donation Week

September 23, 2021

Yesterday we turned the sky pink across its sites to raise awareness of organ donation.

The A&E department at Sandwell Hospital along with the Birmingham Treatment Centre and the Organ Donation Memorial in the Remembrance Gardens at City Hospital have been lit up as part of Organ Donation Week which runs from 20 to 26 September. The Light It Up Pink initiative is inspired by the colour of the NHS Organ Donor Register card.

The organ donation team at the Trust, which runs the hospitals, hopes it will encourage staff and residents to talk about the subject, and share with their families their decisions on the matter.

Currently, 70,119 people in Sandwell and West Birmingham are already on the NHS Organ Donor Register. However, people need to tell their family to help ensure their family supports their decision, if they are approached about organ donation by a specialist nurse in hospital.

In May 2020, the law around organ donation in England changed to an ‘opt out’ system. This means that a person would be willing to donate their organs, unless they have opted out, are in one of the excluded groups or have told their family they do not want to donate.

To find out more and register your decision, visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk. Alternatively, users of the NHS app, can use this to record, check and update your details and organ donation decision.