Organ Donation Memorial

STATES OF JERSEY

ORGAN DONATION MEMORIAL

Lodged au Greffe on 25th March 2025

by Deputy L.K.F. Stephenson of St. Mary , St. Ouen and St. Peter Earliest date for debate: 22nd April 2025

STATES GREFFE

2025  P.25

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

to request the Council of Ministers to take the necessary steps to ensure that a public  memorial  to  organ  donation  is  provided  as  part  of  the  planning commitments of the Acute Hospital at Overdale, or any subsequent hospital developments, to the Percentage for Art Scheme.

DEPUTY L.K.F. STEPHENSON OF ST. MARY, ST. OUEN AND ST. PETER

REPORT

Today in our community there are all kinds of people whose lives have been touched – in some cases transformed – by organ donation. There are those whose lives have been saved were it not for the decisions of others, and their families, to donate. There are loved ones, such as myself and my own family, who have supported a relative's wish to become an organ donor. And there are also living donors, who have selflessly donated kidneys or stem cells to loved ones and even strangers who may not be here without the transplants they made possible. Islanders who donate blood also make a valuable and important contribution, with their donations often saving lives and they too should be thanked and recognised.

This proposition asks States Members to agree to honour all of those people, and those who have come before them and will come after them, with a piece of public art funded as part of the new hospital project's planning commitments for public art, including as part of the Percentage for Art scheme. The government has confirmed that the hospital project will include a public art commitment and that such a project could form part of it.

According to the NHS Blood and Transplant Service, of which Jersey is a part, organ donation memorials are a way to give thanks to donors and promote the value of organ donation. They also encourage healthy conversation around personal wishes after death and encourage people to share those wishes with their loved ones.

In 2008 the Organ Donation Taskforce made a series of recommendations to the UK government aimed at reducing the barriers to organ donation and increasing the number of transplants. One of those 14 recommendations was entitled "recognising the gift of organ donation" and stated: "Appropriate ways should be identified of personally and publicly recognising individual organ donors, where desired. These approaches may include national memorials, local initiatives and personal follow-up to donor families". Another recommendation focused on promoting organ donation.

The following quote from Dale Gardiner , the national clinical lead for organ donation, nicely sums up the sentiment behind this proposition:

"Just as there is a war memorial in every park, every hospital should have a donation memorial. It's a small way to say to donors - you are not forgotten and thank you."

Remember, while we like to distance ourselves from the NHS frequently and fiercely value our independence from it, in the case of organ donation Jersey is as much a part of the NHS Organ Donor Register as Liverpool, Manchester or London.

Examples of memorials

In 2016 a national memorial paying tribute to the tens of thousands of organ and tissue donors across the UK who have saved and transformed lives was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Sheffield. The Isle of Man has an organ donation memorial  garden  at  Noble's  Hospital,  there  is  a  memorial  to  organ  donors  at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow and a Scott ish National Memorial in Edinburgh. Other examples, pictures of which can be seen here, include Nottingham University  Hospital,  Wrexham,  Wolverhampton,  Kings  Mill  Hospital  and  Ysbyty Gwynedd Bangor.

These memorials are all unique and diverse in setting and style and have often been codesigned by local communities, particularly those with lived experience of organ donation. It would not need to be personal in nature, recognising that not all families who have lost loved ones would want to engage or be visible in this process.

This proposition does not seek to be prescriptive about what Jersey's own memorial could or should look like, or where it would be (although supplementary planning guidance states that typically it is envisaged that the majority of public art commitments would be on site and integral to the development). It also does not aim to specify how much money it should cost or what portion of the government's commitment to public art under the planning guidance should be spent on it.

Instead, this proposition simply asks for agreement that a proportion of that public art commitment should be focused on an organ donation memorial and for that concept to be baked in' to plans and proposals as the project progresses. I have no doubt that the consultation and development process organised by the hospital project team would be sensitive and thoughtful to the experiences and feelings of families impacted by loss and organ donation.

For the avoidance of doubt, I would expect this proposition, if approved, to apply to the current and any future incarnations of the new hospital project should the development not proceed as currently planned.

For that reason, while I welcome assurances from the minister and hospital project team that they now intend to include an organ donation memorial in their plans (given during my consultation with them on this proposition), I believe a States Assembly decision would help to avoid this falling off the radar' for any reason, including if there should be a change of direction for the hospital project as a whole in future or a change in leadership.

We are now just over a year away from the next election and the next minister may not feel duty bound to uphold the promises of their predecessor. It also does not necessarily provide time for me to bring the matter to the Assembly at a later date if the promises that it will be included do not materialise.

Finally, this proposition also gives States Members the opportunity to show their support and thanks for Jersey's organ donors in a positive, sensitive but hopefully uplifting way.

How would it work?

According  to  the  government,  the  brief  for  the  new  acute  hospital  at  Overdale recognises the importance of art and its capacity to improve health and wellbeing in a hospital setting, as well as patients and the contribution of healthcare workers'. In addition, and referenced in the planning application, it says the proposals are cognisant of the planning policy and supplementary planning guidance in relation to art'.

As a result, the NHFP is developing a Therapeutic Arts Strategy and, now that planning permission has been granted for the Overdale site, work is due to begin in the coming months on that strategy. The TAS will, I have been told, respond to the relevant planning

conditions relating to public art and will include consultation with the Jersey community regarding the commissioning of art and creative opportunities. The project manager has confirmed that work to develop a public art memorial honouring organ donors could form part of this work. This proposition does not suggest that it takes all of the resources set aside for public art provision – which as yet have not been defined in detail – and instead that it should form a part of the TAS.

Supplementary planning guidance on Percentage for Art, which can be found here states that: Percentage for Art is an internationally recognised funding mechanism where developers are encouraged to allocate a percentage of the capital costs of any new building(s), refurbishment or landscaping scheme towards the provision of public art.' It applies to developments of a more significant scale' and, according to the guidance, typically encourages a contribution of up to 0.75% of the total construction cost to the inclusion of public art.

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment defines public art as "permanent or temporary works of art visible to the general public, whether part of the building  or  free  standing;  can  include  sculpture,  lighting  effects,  street  furniture, paving, railings and signs".

Organ donation and Jersey

In Jersey an opt-out system for organ donation has been in place since April 2018. The law means that consent is implied unless specified otherwise. Jersey is a part of the NHS organ donor register and, although perhaps more challenging than for UK trusts due to travel logistics, those who die in Jersey and meet certain criteria can become organ donors. The numbers are typically small (a total of 52 organs were donated from deceased donors in Jersey between 2006 and 2016, for example), but the impact they have on the lives of recipients is huge. Between 2017 and the end of 2024 there had been 8 donors in Jersey, from which there were 14 kidney transplants, 4 liver transplants, 1 pair of lungs and 4 hearts donated for valves. Four other organs were donated but found to be unsuitable for transplant so were donated to research programmes.

Islanders also receive donated organs via the register (as of March there were 7 Jersey patients waiting for transplants) and a memorial would provide a way for their donors, wherever they come from, to be recognised.

Financial and staffing implications

There are no additional financial and staffing implications required as a result of this proposition, above and beyond what will already be required for the development as per the Percentage for Art scheme.

Children's Rights Impact Assessment

A Children's Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) has been prepared in relation to this proposition and is available to read on the States Assembly website.