Focus group consultation - Introducing ‘opt-out’ consent for organ and tissue donation in England

In 2017 the British Government announced its plans to change the legal basis for organ donation in England to an ‘opt-out’ system, whereby it will be presumed that an individual has consented to be an organ donor after their death unless they have specifically recorded a decision on the Organ Donor Register to refuse to donate.

NHS Blood and Transplant commissioned Ipsos to conduct qualitative research with the public and groups who may be less likely to engage in the formal written consultation process, and/or more likely to raise issues with the assumed consent model to seek their views on the best ways to implement the move to opt-out.

Alongside the Department of Health and Social Care’s consultation on the opt-out system, Ipsos conducted 26 focus groups across England over February and March 2018 with a number of Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups, faith groups, parents of children under 18 years old, and people temporarily resident in the country.

Fictional case studies, in the form of short stories about hypothetical people, were used to stimulate discussion, and research participants were asked about:

• their views of the current (opt-in) system;
• what they thought about the proposed opt-out system, including the role of the family;
• any groups or individuals they thought should be excluded from the opt-out system;
• what the legal basis should be for visitors and temporary residents;
• and about the implementation of the system (communications, how decisions should be recorded etc).

To find out more download our focus group report below.