Organ and tissue donation - opt-out system: five year monitoring and evaluation plan

Annex 2: Overview of the baseline data, by outcome strand

Public Attitudes

• Data: Public attitudes survey. In June and July 2019, the Scottish Health Council surveyed members of the public about organ and tissue donation, using the Our Voice Citizen's Panel. This survey collected information on awareness and understanding of the legislation, views on donation in general, as well as behaviours in relation to legislation and organ and tissue donation.
• Data: Marketing surveys. The Scottish Government's marketing unit commissioned five online omnibus surveys (in June 2019, September 2019, March 2020, September 2020, and January 2021) to monitor public views and attitudes towards the change to an opt-out system for donation, as well as the impacts of the media campaign to inform the public about the law change and to raise awareness about registering a decision on the Organ Donor Register.
• Implementation Activity: Media marketing campaign. The aim of this workstream was to inform the public about the donation law change and raise awareness about the importance of registering a donation decision on the Organ Donor Register.
• Implementation Activity: Engagement with partners and stakeholders. The aim of this workstream was to represent hard-to-reach groups and those with protected characteristics, and to incorporate their views into the implementation of the Act.

Workforce

• Data: Qualitative research with NHS Scotland staff. Between October 2019 and January 2020 a Scottish Government researcher undertook interviews and focus groups with staff involved in donation to gather their views.
• Data: Confidence rating surveys pre- and post- training with NHS Scotland staff, collected between Sept 2020 and March 2021.
• Implementation Activity: A variety of training sessions aimed at NHS Scotland staff involved in donation processes were run between Sept 2020 to Feb 2021, and an online resource was made available from Jan 2021. The aim of this workstream was to ensure compliance and confidence with new legislative requirements among all operational staff involved in donation processes in Scotland.

Monitoring Data

• Data: Routine organ donation data collected by NHSBT on referral, family approach, authorisation, donation, and transplantation rates.
• Data: Routine tissue donation data collected by SNBTS on referral, family approach, authorisation, donation, and transplantation rates.
• Data: Routine Organ Donation Register collected by NHSBT, on opt-in, opt-out registrations and withdrawals.