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National Organ Donation Collaborative

The National Organ Donation Collaborative (NODC) was a three year project from June 2006 to June 2009 involving multidisciplinary teams of health professionals from 27 hospitals across Australia.

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Transitioning of the National Organ Donation Collaborative activities to the National Authority

Since April 2007 the NODC has been managed on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) by NHMRC through NICS.

The Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority (the Authority) was established on 1 January 2009 to create a nationally consistent and coordinated approach to organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Overarching responsibility for the NODC was assumed by the Authority at this time.

The NODC ends on 30 June 2009 and NICS is working closely with the Authority to ensure a smooth transition of the NODC activities. The Authority will establish a Community of Practice to harness and build on the achievements established by the Collaborative.

The aim of the NODC was to identify, use and spread best practice models that have been used to achieve high donation rates and to develop interventions for getting evidence-based guidelines into practice to support the organ donation process.

The NODC focused on six strategies to increase organ donation:

  • Advocating organ and tissue donation in hospital mission statements, business plans, policies and processes
  • Involving senior leaders to get results
  • Using a multidisciplinary team of clinicians to manage the donation process for each case
  • Ensuring early identification, referral and rapid response to all potential organ donors
  • Developing a best practice model for requesting organ donation
  • Preparing for introduction of donation after cardiac death.

A recent review of the NODC highlighted the strength of the hospital teams and in particular the role of the Project Officers as the ‘lynchpins’ for successfully driving improvement strategies within participating hospitals.

The Portal developed by NICS to support the NODC has been a very successful resource to enable NODC participants to share the latest news, publications and resources. In addition the portal provided a secure section for the 27 hospitals to submit their monthly hospital data and to access data reports and graphs in real time.

The Portal will continue to be a resource for the organ and tissue donation sector and will transition from NICS to the National Authority after 30 June 2009. To request access to the NODC Portal please email your name, position, organisation and email address to nodc@nhmrc.gov.au.

Ongoing work during this transition period also includes the completion of a review of the NODC and finalisation of the Donation after Cardiac Death protocol.

Draft National Protocol for Donation after Cardiac Death

Public consultation has now closed and submissions are being considered by the Donation after Cardiac Death Committee. The final protocol is expected to be completed in 2010.

Further information

For further information on the transition of the NODC activities to the Authority please contact NHMRC at nodc@nhmrc.gov.au or phone 03 8866 0400.

or contact

Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority
Ernst & Young House
Level 5, 51 Allara Street
Canberra ACT 2600
Post Office Box 295, Civic Square ACT 2608

Telephone (02) 6198 9800
Facsimile (02) 6198 9801

www.donatelife.gov.au

Page last reviewed: 8 April 2010