Seema Malhotra MP: 'Back Adrian's Bill'

The Labour MP Seema Malhotra is calling for compulsory blood, organ and bone marrow donation education in schools to tackle a shortage of registered donors in the UK.

The figures to tackle this life-saving health problem make grim reading: Just 50% of people who need a bone marrow transplant will find a matching donor, and there are over 7,000 people currently waiting for donated organs. Increasing the number of donors in the UK will help save more lives.

This challenges is compounded by the fact that people from BME background are twice as unlikely to find a donor than their white northern European counterparts.

Seema Malhotra, MP for Feltham and Heston, who introduced the 10 Minute Rule Bill yesterday, said:

Education about blood, organ, and bone marrow donation is essential for giving young people the information and awareness to make the decision to be a donor, and enable the NHS to save more lives. Introducing this education is a vital measure for securing a long-term solution to address the donor shortage.”

The call for compulsory education for 16-18 year olds comes after impressive results from a pioneering education programme, Register and Be a Lifesaver (R&Be), run by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan with NHS Blood and Transplant. Since 2009 volunteers have spoken to almost 80,000 students in The Midlands, Yorkshire, London, Liverpool and Bristol about blood, organ and bone marrow donation, and over 1,400 of these students have joined the organ donor register, with more than 5,000 registering to give blood.

The programme has been run with the support of Keith and Kay Sudbury, the parents of Adrian Sudbury after whom this new law would be named. Adrian Sudbury spent the last two years of his life campaigning for better education about stem cell donation. Adrian presented a petition to the prime minister and senior government ministers in 2008. Sadly, in the same year, Adrian lost his battle with leukaemia aged 27.

Victoria Moffett, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Anthony Nolan, says:

We are determined to continue Adrian’s legacy and engage with all young people about the idea of donation. We hope Members of Parliament recognise the importance of this bill in ensuring that the NHS can provide donated blood, organs and bone marrow to those who desperately need them and that they can continue to do so in the future.’

Lets support Seema and lobby our MP’s to back this Bill. The power of education, not only informs and inspires us, it also saves lives too.

Simon Woolley