Thanks to the generosity of 513 donors, and their families who said yes to donation, 1,396 Australians received a life-saving organ transplant in 2023.
The release of the 2023 Australian Donation and Transplantation Activity Report highlights continued recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, but there is more to do to do.
With a 13% increase in deceased organ donation, and a 14% increase in the number of people who received a transplant from 2022, this is the strongest result seen since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020.
Very few people will be in a position to be an organ donor – only around 2% of people who die in hospital can be considered. The national consent rate remains a challenge and increasing the number of people and families who say yes to donation is critical to saving more lives. Only 55% of families said yes to donation in the hospital last year, down from 59% pre-pandemic.
Around 8 in 10 families say yes to donation if their family member is registered. This drops to 4 in 10 if their family didn’t know they wanted to be a donor.
