What type of registry would maintain information about the donor in the recipient of an organ?

The national Organ and Tissue Authority works alongside all Australian states and territories to improve organ and tissue donation and organ transplant outcomes (the reform agenda).

In Victoria a number of organisations - including the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood and DonateLife Victoria - work alongside specialised health professionals and hospitals to implement the reform agenda. Protocols have also been developed to ensure equitable and transparent transplant criteria.

In 2009 the Commonwealth Government created the Organ and Tissue Authority to develop, implement and monitor national programs to increase the rate of organ and tissue donation across Australia. The authority was allocated $151 million over an initial four-year period to develop and implement a national reform program. This funding has enabled:

• the employment of DonateLife Network health professionals in health services and donation agencies.     
• organ donation activities at hospitals
• organisations to provide essential support services to health services.

Since the implementation of the reform program in 2009 the national and Victorian donation rates have increased significantly.

• The Australian donation rate per million population increased from 11.4 in 2009 to 21.6 in 2019.
• The Victorian donation rate per million population increased from 12.1 in 2009 to 24.6 in 2019.

This indicated that the Victorian donation rate is well above the national average.

Following the initial success of the national reform program, the Australian Government will continue to fund organ donation and transplantation services.

Paired Kidney Exchange program

The Australian and New Zealand Paired Kidney Exchange program (ANZKX) is part of the Organ and Tissue Authority’s efforts to increase the number of living kidney donors. The ANZKX program uses the computerised national Organ Match system to find compatible donors among other registered pairs who might be suitable. This can enable two or more simultaneous living donor transplants to occur. The ANZKX program is coordinated from Victoria by the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Tissue donation

The national reform agenda also includes strategies to support the donation of tissues from committed organ donors.

Victorian implementation of the national reform agenda

Victorian implementation of the federal scheme involves a multidisciplinary approach with the Department of Health working alongside specialist programs and health professionals, the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, DonateLife Victoria and hospitals.

Department of Health

The department plays a major direct and indirect funding support role in every phase of the process of organ donation to transplantation. It provides:

• funding for organ retrieval, organ perfusion and transplantation     
• additional funds to health services to employ organ donation specialists
• contributions to the nationally funded centres for paediatric transplant patients
• funding for tissue typing costs.

Organ donation specialist doctors and nurses

Public hospitals participate in organ and tissue donation and transplantation programs by employing experienced doctors and nurses whose specialised role is to facilitate organ and tissue donation opportunities at both public and private health services.

Victorian hospitals

In Victoria, medical and nursing organ and tissue donation specialists are based in a number of metropolitan and regional health services. The network of Victorian hospitals and staff dedicated to donation activities ensure that a state wide service is provided for all Victorians. The authority reimburses these hospitals for carrying out organ donation activities. Hospital costs include pathology and imaging, staff time in the emergency department and intensive care unit, and the costs of transferring a potential donor from a regional hospital to a larger, more specialised hospital.

There are six primary Victorian hospitals that provide the transplantation services: The Alfred Hospital, Austin Health, Melbourne Health, Monash Medical Centre, Royal Children's Hospital and St Vincent’s Health.

DonateLife Victoria

DonateLife Victoria is the organ donation agency for Victoria. DonateLife Victoria’s team of health professionals provides a range of support services to participating health services and hospital-based organ donation specialists. The team coordinates donation services, encourages best practice, and helps raise community awareness and understanding about donation for transplantation.

DonateLife Tasmania

DonateLife Victoria trains and supports DonateLife Tasmania’s organ donation specialist nursing coordinators. Organ donation and transplantation specialists from Victoria work with Tasmanian doctors, nurses and hospitals to facilitate donation and transplantation activities.

Australian Red Cross Lifeblood (Lifeblood)

The department funds Lifeblood to coordinate Victorian organ donation activities. Lifeblood currently provides support to DonateLife Victoria and DonateLife Tasmania, and tissue typing services through the Victorian Transplantation and Immunogenetics Service.

Lions Eye Donation Service

The Lions Eye Donation Service (LEDS) operates as part of the Department of Ophthalmology of Melbourne University at the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital. LEDS staff members collect and distribute human eye tissue for vision restoration, research and education.

Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria

The Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria (DTBV) is a multi-tissue bank, processing skin, bone, cartilage, tendons, connective tissue and heart valves for transplantation. The DTBV provides surgeons with safe and effective tissue grafts for orthopaedic, cardiothoracic, reconstructive surgery and burn care. The microbiology laboratory is licensed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration to carry out testing on cadaveric tissues for transplantation.

DTBV, LEDS and DonateLife Victoria are working collaboratively to increase tissue donation from hospital sources.

National protocols for organ recipient priority

The Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand has developed equitable and transparent national criteria and protocols for selecting recipients for donated organs. Organs from deceased donors are allocated to transplant recipients in a process that takes no account of race, religion, gender, social status, disability or age, unless age is relevant to the organ-matching criteria.

The Human Tissue Act 1982 

The Human Tissue Act 1982 (the Act) regulates organ donation following death. The Act includes a process to authorise the removal of tissue (including organs) from a deceased person for the purpose of transplantation and for use for other therapeutic, medical or scientific purposes. The Act was amended in December 2020 to enable a process for authorising the carrying out of ante-mortem (prior to death) procedures to support the viability of organs for transplantation.

Find out more about the Act amendment in the Department of Health Circular.

More information about the Human Tissue Act 1982 can be found on our Human Tissue Act page or on the Victorian parliament website .

Organ donation is the process of surgically removing an organ or tissue from one person (the organ donor) and placing it into another person (the recipient). Transplantation is necessary because the recipient’s organ has failed or has been damaged by disease or injury.

Organ transplantation is one of the great advances in modern medicine. Unfortunately, the need for organ donors is much greater than the number of people who actually donate. Every day in the United States, 21 people die waiting for an organ and more than 107,380 men, women and children await life-saving organ transplants.

What organs and tissues can be transplanted?

Organs and tissues that can be transplanted include:

• Liver.
• Kidney.
• Pancreas.
• Heart.
• Lung.
• Intestine.
• Corneas.
• Middle ear.
• Skin.
• Bone.
• Bone marrow.
• Heart valves.
• Connective tissue.
• Vascularized composite allografts (transplant of several structures that may include skin, uterus, bone, muscles, blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue).

Who can be an organ donor?

People of all ages should consider themselves potential donors. When a person dies, they are evaluated for donor suitability based on their medical history and age. The organ procurement organization determines medical suitability for donation.

How do I become an organ donor?

Individuals who wish to be organ donors should complete the following steps:

• You might join a donor registry. A registry is more than just an expression of interest in becoming a donor. It’s a way to legally give consent for the anatomical gift of organs, tissue and eyes. Each time you go to your local Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), you will be asked, "do you want to make an anatomical gift?" All you have to do is say "Yes." You can also join the registry at any time by filling out a "Document of Gift" form from the BMV. For more information, go to www.lifebanc.org and click on donor registry. Donor registry information for any state might be obtained from www.donatelife.net.
• Sign and carry an organ donor card. This card can be downloaded at: www.organdonor.gov.
• Let your family members and loved ones know you’d like to be a donor.
• You might also want to tell your family healthcare provider, lawyer and religious leader that you’d like to be a donor.

By becoming an organ donor, does this mean that I wouldn't be eligible to receive the best medical care possible?

Not at all. Your decision to donate does not affect the quality of the medical care you will receive.

Are there any costs to the organ donor's family for donation?

There is no cost to the donor’s family or estate for the donation of organs, tissue or eyes. Funeral costs remain the responsibility of the family.

Will organ donation disfigure the body?

The recovery of organs, tissue and eyes is a surgical procedure performed by trained medical professionals. Generally, the family may still have a traditional funeral service

If I need an organ or tissue transplant, what do I need to do?

If you need a transplant, you need to get on the national waiting list. To get on the list, you need to visit a transplant hospital. To find a transplant hospital near you, visit the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) and use the search function on the top of the page.

The transplant hospital's multi-disciplinary team will evaluate you and decide if you are a suitable transplant candidate. In addition to criteria developed for some organ types by United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), each transplant hospital has its own criteria for accepting candidates for transplant.

If the hospital's transplant team determines that you are a good transplant candidate, they will add you to the national waiting list. You can get on the waiting list at more than one transplant hospital, and UNOS policies do permit "multiple listing." However, be sure to check each transplant hospital's guidelines about who will be the primary care provider.

Next, you wait. There's no way to know how long you’ll wait to receive a donor organ. Your name will be added to the pool of names. When an organ becomes available, all the patients in the pool are assessed to determine compatibility.

What organization actually manages the distribution of organs? What is the process to receive an organ or tissue?

UNOS maintains the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Through the UNOS Organ Center, organ donors are matched to waiting recipients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

When an organ becomes available, the local organ procurement organization sends medical, social and genetic information to UNOS. UNOS then generates a list of potential recipients, based on such factors as:

• Blood type.
• Tissue type.
• Organ size.
• Medical urgency of the patient’s illness.
• Time already spent on the waiting list.
• Geographical distance between the donor and the recipient.

The organ is offered first to the transplant center with the candidate who is the best match. The transplant team decides if it will accept or refuse the organ based on established medical criteria and other factors.

If the transplant center refuses the organ, the transplant center of the next patient on the list is contacted and the process continues until the organ is placed.

What's involved with becoming a living organ donor?

A living donation, such as the donation of one healthy kidney or a segment of a healthy liver from a living human being to another, is arranged though the individual transplant centers according to criteria they have in place. An independent donor advocate, along with a dedicated living donor multi-disciplinary team, will represent the interests and well-being of the potential living donor.