DonateLife Queensland

Initiative Type
Education and Training
Status
Deliver
Added
Last updated

Summary

DonateLife Queensland (DLQ) believe a fundamental shift in the way staff connect and coordinate efforts to better support donor families at this most harrowing of times has contributed to this outcome. This resulted in a 47 per cent increase from 2016-17 in the number families choosing to donate after the death of loved one. DLQ implemented a robust package of audit, hospital engagement and professional development initiatives, including the Queensland Strategic Plan 2016-17 and Best Practice Processes to Optimise Organ Donation for Transplantation. These have better aligned Department of Health staff competencies about organ donation processes with best practice clinical care, particularly among health professionals providing dignified end-of-life-care in emergency and ICU settings. DLQ has simultaneously extended community outreach programs to inform and prompt public discussion and decision-making about organ and tissue donation.

The project was a finalist in the Connecting Healthcare Category at the 2017 Queensland Health Awards for Excellence.

Key dates
Jan 2017
Dec 2017
Implementation sites
All Queensland Public Hospitals

Aim

Statewide clinical reforms and community engagement supporting organ and tissue donation.

Benefits

  • Increased capability and capacity within the health system to maximise donation rates
  • Increased community awareness and stakeholder engagement across Queensland to promote organ and tissue donation.

Background

DonateLife is a key part of the Australian Government’s national reform program to increase organ and tissue donation and transplantation outcomes in Australia.

Evaluation and Results

In 2016, 323 people received life-saving or life-transforming transplants as a result of a 47 per cent increase in Queensland organ donors. An extra 108 chronically ill patients were removed from transplant waiting lists last year compared to 2015. A record 106 Queenslanders became organ donors last year – up from 72 in 2015. The proportion of families saying ‘yes’ to donation after the death of a loved one in hospital care also increased significantly from 56-67 per cent in Queensland from 2015-2016. Both donor numbers and consent rates remained similarly high during 2017, with many families citing the comfort they felt by honouring their loved ones’ wishes.

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Key contact

Tina Coco
State Manager
Metro South Hospital and Health Service
(07) 3176 5220
Shelley-lee.waller@health.qld.gov.au

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