Hospitals use donated blood to treat people with many kinds of injury and illness. Donating takes only about an hour. Where you sign up depends on where you live: there is one service for England and North Wales (blood.co.uk), one for the rest of Wales, one for Scotland and one for Northern Ireland.
Many people in the UK are waiting for an organ transplant. If you join the register as an organ donor, your family will find it easier to make a decision about donating your organs after your death. You can sign up on the NHS organ donation website. And living people can donate a kidney too.
Kidney donor cards used in England from 1971 to 1981. From 1981 the cards were extended to other organs, such as the heart, liver and corneas, and in 1994 the NHS set up its Organ Donor Register.
Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quiz
Is the statement below TRUE or FALSE?
Signing up to the organ donor register helps your relatives when they must decide about donating your organs after your death.
True. Registering as an organ donor makes the decision easier for your family. And don't forget: living people can donate a kidney too.
