Staff at Royal Preston Hospital are supporting a national campaign to promote organ donation with a series of events.

Organ Donation Week, which is running from Monday 2 September, aims to educate, inform and inspire people about how lives can be saved and improved through donation.

A key message for this year’s campaign is how the law around organ donation is changing in England. From spring 2020, all adults in England will be considered an organ donor when they die, unless they had recorded a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.

Events taking place at RPH will encourage people to speak about organ donation and ask any questions they may have.

The week will culminate on Friday 6 September, when visitors to the hospital will be asked to join a 40-mile virtual cycle from RPH to Manchester Royal Infirmary. The journey imitates the trip that donor organs take from the hospital to the local transplant centre. There will be a static bike in the main entrance, which visitors will be able to use to take turns to contribute to the 40 miles.

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A spokesperson for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “The overall national shortage of donors remains and there is an urgent need for more people to support donation.

“Around three people still die a day in need of a donated organ but many people have never told their relatives they want to save lives. 6,264 people are currently waiting for a transplant in the UK alone.”

Karen Partington, Chief Executive at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are proud to be supporting Organ Donation Week this year and encourage anyone who is interested to attend the events taking place throughout the week to find out more about organ donation and start conversations about the subject.

“We are so grateful to every individual, and their families, who have helped others through organ donation. We would urge people who support the lifesaving power of organ donation to join the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell their families they want to donate.”

Find out more information and register to be a donor at organdonation.nhs.uk.