Westfield Health chairman welcomes life-saving change in organ donation law

16th October 2017

One of the leading campaigners for organ donation has welcomed the news that a consultation on introducing an optout system for organ donation is to be held in England.

Graham Moore, chairman of Sheffield-based health and wellbeing company, Westfield Health, has a decade-long track record of supporting transplant sport in the UK working to actively promote organ donation. Under Graham's chairmanship, Westfield Health has sponsored the British Transplant Games since 2008, including this year's Games which were held in North Lanarkshire in July. The company will be title sponsors again for next year's Games in Birmingham and recently announced it will be one of the sponsors of the 22nd World Transplant Games when they are staged in NewcastleGateshead in 2019. The Department of Health has confirmed there will be a 12-week consultation on introducing an optout system in England after the policy was mentioned by Prime Minister Theresa May in her speech at the Conservative Party conference. Graham said: -As a long-standing supporter of organ donation and transplantation, I'm thrilled to hear the news that a consultation is to be held on introducing an optout system for organ donation. -This is something myself and Westfield Health have championed for years. The World and British Transplant Games help to raise awareness of the life-saving gift that is organ and tissue donation, and demonstrate the extraordinary things that are possible for transplant patients. -There are currently 6,500 people on the transplant list and an average of three people a day die because they do not get one. -Personally, I have been affected directly by the shortage of organ donors. A number of years ago, my nephew, who suffered with cystic fibrosis, was waiting for a life-saving heart and lung transplant. Unfortunately, he passed away before a donor was found. -As a passionate supporter of this cause, I wholeheartedly welcome the consultation into the optout system in England, and I hope we follow Scotland and Wales in introducing the new system. For more information on Westfield Health visit www.westfieldhealth.com, follow @WestfieldHealth on Twitter or like the Westfield Health page on Facebook.