Nottinghamshire University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust's initiative will see the Queen’s Medical Centre and buildings on the Trust’s City Hospital site – alongside well known Nottingham landmarks - lit up pink for Organ Donation Week (Monday 20 to Sunday 26 September).

Nottingham buildings turning pink tomorrow (Wednesday 22 September) are the QMC, City Hospital, Kings Mill Hospital, the University of Nottingham’s Trent building, and Nottingham City Council’s Council House and Wollaton Hall. The Light It Up Pink initiative is inspired by the pink NHS Organ Donor Register card. Across the country, someone dies every day in need of an organ.

The aim is to inspire people to get talking about organ donation and encourage more people to share with their families their decisions around organ donation. As well as NUH, others taking part include Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Nottingham, and Nottingham City Council

Around 350,000 people in the Midlands are already on the NHS Organ Donor Register, around 35% of the population. However, people need to tell their family to help ensure their family supports their decision, if they are approached about organ donation by a specialist nurse in hospital.

Last year NUH had the highest number of organ donors of any Trust, helping save or improve the lives of people desperately in need of a transplant across the UK.

NUH teams facilitated 46 deceased organ donors resulting in 157 lifesaving organs for transplant. This is despite organ donation rates across the UK falling due to the pandemic, where Covid-19 had a wide-reaching impact across the whole NHS and every aspect of UK society.

Family members will still be consulted before organ donation goes ahead, but they will be more likely to support your organ donation decision, when they already know what you want to happen.

This year, organ donation has also been added to the National Curriculum for the first time and family members, whatever their age, are being encouraged to get together to talk about their own donation decisions.

Millions of people are already on the NHS Organ Donor Register. To find out more and register your decision, visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-your-decision.

Alternatively, users of the NHS app, can use this to record, check and update your details and organ donation decision.