Organ donation law changed – Two Years Anniversary

Today marks the second anniversary of the #OrganDonation opt out system coming into effect in England, known as ‘Max and Keira’s Law’. You still have a choice if you want to be an organ donor or not when you die and families will always be involved. www.organdonation.nhs.uk

Families are more likely to support organ donation going ahead if they know what their loved one would have wanted. Have you had the conversation? www.organdonation.nhs.uk

NKF and NBTA webinar – Friday 20th May at 3.30pm

The webinar organised by the National Kidney Federation (NKF) and the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance (NBTA). This will take place on 20th May at 3.30pm, to mark the second anniversary of the organ donation law change. More details can be found on the poster here.

Outreach large scale recruitment events across London June – August 2022

Please find here a slide pack from Outreach with information of all the large scale recruitment events holding across London June – August 2022. The Met's Outreach Teams are working to increase the number of female officers and police officers from Black, Asian and Multiple ethnic heritage communities to make the Met representative of the communities of London. Anyone who may be interested in a career in policing, who would like to know more about the events or would like to volunteer with the team can make contact with their local Outreach team (information can be found here).

Statement from Eurodiaconia Annual General Meeting 2022

Eurodiaconia recently held its Annual General Meeting 2022 in Brussels. Click here to read more about the work of Eurodiaconia and the Statement from AGM 2022.

Photo from Eurodiaconia webpage

NHS Blood and Transplant – ‘Give Hope this Easter’ Campaign

We are excited to bring you our Easter campaign, which will run from 14th April to 19th April 2022. For many people, Easter is a time of hope and a celebration of the gift of life. So, it’s a perfect time to consider blood or organ donation.

The campaign aims to raise awareness about how we can help our friends, family and community, through the gift of organ donation or blood donation at this special time of year. Through press and social media activity, we will be encouraging people to register as a blood donor and book an appointment to donate blood, as well as talk about organ donation with your loved ones and register your decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

We especially want to get more people of Black heritage talking about blood and organ donation. Can you help us?

The need for more blood donors of Black heritage:

• Sickle cell mainly affects people of Black heritage, and many people living with Sickle cell require regular blood transfusions.

• Black blood donors are ten times more likely to have the rare blood sub type (type Ro) needed to provide the best match

• That’s why we need more people of Black heritage registering as blood donors and booking an appointment to donate blood.

The need for more organ donors of Black heritage:

• We need more people from Black communities to tell their families they want to donate. Organ donation saves lives.

• Black ethnicity patients are over-represented on the transplant waiting list and more likely to need an organ transplant, due to susceptibility to illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension, which can result in organ failure.

• Certain organs, such as kidneys (which three quarters of people on the transplant waiting list are waiting for) are matched by blood group and tissue type. People from the same ethnic background are more likely to be a match

Easter campaign activity

We are excited to bring you some new content, we would love for you to share with your networks! Look out for these on NHSBT social media channels or you can download the videos here

• Video featuring BBC presenter Cole Morton sharing his message on organ donation

• Videos featuring Muyiwa Olarewaju, Premier gospel presenter and a singer song writer, sharing an important message on blood donation and organ donation

• Video featuring Tim Campbell, from the Apprentice, with a special message on blood and organ donation – we will share this video with you later this week

• New social media assets are available to download and share on your social media channels (the social assets are sized to fit most social platforms)

• A press release will go live on 14th April

Here are ways you can help us spread the word across your audiences:

1. Follow our social media channels @NHSOrganDonor @GiveBloodNHS, join the conversation, and share our campaign content

2. Share our Easter campaign social media assets, which are available to download here

Please use our recommended hashtags #GiveHope #Easter

3. Our press release goes live on our website on Thursday 14th April – please share with your networks 4. Encourage people to visit our websites to find out more

Blood donation – https://www.blood.co.uk/

Organ donation - https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

Suggested social media captions

#GiveHope this #Easter – join @NHSOrganDonor and help save lives

#GiveHope this #Easter – talk to your loved ones about organ donation and register your decision @NHSOrganDonor #GiveHope this #Easter – join @GiveBloodNHS and help save lives

#GiveHope this #Easter – sign up as a blood donor and book an appointment to donate @GiveBloodNHS

Aretha and Shanann’s story

There are always inspiring stories to share – people whose lives have been impacted by organ or blood donation. Here you can find and watch a touching story of Aretha and her daughter Shanann, who is a kidney and pancreas recipient. https://bit.ly/3Kzuh3H

Aretha comes from a family where organ donation was never openly discussed and she was against organ donation, but after seeing how a transplant has improved her daughter’s life, Aretha is now a passionate advocate for organ donation and encourages more people of Black heritage to register as organ donors.

NHS Blood and Transplant

Do something amazing today

- Give Blood. Organ donation. The gift of life. You can visit us at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk

Induction of the next Moderator of the Free Churches Group and Free Church President of Churches Together in England

The induction of the Rev’d Helen Cameron as the 61st Moderator of the Free Churches Group took place at 6.30 p.m. on April 3rd, 2022 at Wesley’s Chapel in London. The service was led by the Rev’d Steven Cooper, and the Revd Dr Hugh Osgood inducted Helen into her new role and invited her to sign the front page of the Bible all previous Moderators have signed. She was then given the badge of Office of the Moderator, was greeted by senior representative of many of the Free Churches and preached her first sermon as Moderator on a theme of “Being generous, truthful and faithful disciples”. The Choir of Wesley’s chapel sang “ King of the Ages” (Stuart Townend & Keith Getty).

The service was live streamed and since then the recording of the service has been viewed a further 600 times. If you have not yet viewed it you can find it here.

We were glad that so many people accepted an invitation to a reception beforehand, which gave an opportunity for many to greet and thank the Revd Dr Hugh Osgood for his phenomenal service for so many years as Moderator. The Revd James Breslin(Chair of the FCG Board) formally thanked Revd Dr Hugh in the service and handed over a gift to him.

We are grateful to Wesley’s Chapel for their hospitality, and to the Rev’d Canon Dr Jennifer Smith and the Rev’d Steven Cooper of Wesley’s Chapel for all their help as well as to Bishop Paul Rochester General Secretary of the Free Churches Group, Thandar Tun and Sabina Williams for everything they did to make it such a remarkable and inspiring service.

We were glad that Mr Paul Herbage MBE KStJ DL the Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London and Representative DL for the London Borough of Islington was able to join us at Wesley’s Chapel for the Reception and the Service of Induction.