Organ donation is the process of a person donating an organ or tissue to help someone who needs a transplant. There are two types of organ donation: living and deceased.

Donated organs are given to someone with damaged organs that need to be replaced.

An organ transplant can save a person's life, or significantly improve their health and quality of life. This relies on people consenting to donate their organs or tissue for transplant when they die and their relatives supporting that decision.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for managing organ donation and transplantation. They maintain the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR), and provide a 24-hour service for supporting donor families. They are also responsible for matching and allocating donated organs in a fair and unbiased way, including the transport arrangements to get the organs to patients. To learn more about organ donation and transplantation click here.

Wales moved to a soft opt-out system for organ donation on 1 December 2015. Under the soft opt-out system, if you have not registered a clear organ donation decision (opt-in or opt-out), you will be treated as having no objection to being an organ donor. This is called 'deemed consent'.

It is called a soft opt-out system because your family will always be involved in all discussions about donation. They will need to be present to answer questions about your health, lifestyle and where you lived. They could also say if you knew you did not want to be an organ donor. To learn more about organ donation in Wales click here.

Visit the NHS Blood and Transplant website for all the information you need to know about Organ donation.