A new law is coming into force which will make it easier to record whether people want to donate their organs in the event of their death.

A change made in the run-up to the law being implemented is the removal of the option to record your decision through the driving licence application process. This will mean that people will only have to opt in to organ donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register, rather than having to note the decision additionally elsewhere.

This was changed on February 1 in the run up to the move to an ’opt out’ system in the island, or the implementation of Daniel’s Law. Currently, people have to opt in to organ and tissue donation by joining the NHS register.

But in October 2020, MHKs unanimously backed the second reading of the Human Tissue and Organ Donation Bill 2020 and in July 2021, the Bill received Royal Assent to become an Act, moving the island one step closer to an opt out led approach to organ donation consent.

The Bill was known as Daniel’s Law, in memory of Daniel Boyde, who died in a car accident in 2007. His mother, Diane Taylor, gave permission for his organs to be donated, helping four other people, and since then has campaigned on organ donation.

The island will continue to operate an ’opt in’ consent system until the changes are made. From now on, applicants will be prompted to register their decision directly on to the NHS Organ Donor Register via the website or by calling 0300 123 23 23.

Users of the NHS app can now also use this service to register, check or update their decision.

The government and NHS Blood and Transplant are now undertaking a joint project to reconcile up to 66,000 driving licence records with the central NHS Organ Donor Register.

Cabinet Office Minister Kate Lord-Brennan said: ’The donation of organs and tissue saves and improves thousands of lives across the UK and crown dependencies each year.

’The hope is that the implementation of Daniel’s Law will increase the number of available organ donors to address the shortage in the UK and Isle of Man.’

Work is now taking place to implement the new law during the current administration and set a commencement date to enable it to come into force.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall added: ’This is an important step in readying ourselves for the implementation of the new law. We expect all existing records to be successfully transferred to the NHS register by the end of February.’