BLOOD DONATION: Click image above to watch video 👆

I am writing this blog post specifically for the blood and platelet donors who are attending the NHS Blood and Transplant Blood Recognition Ceremony in London, later today (I have the privilege of speaking) – however whoever you are, if you live in the UK, you can also support our work by emailing your local MP too:

Hello and THANK YOU so much again for being a donor and for taking this first step in supporting our work.

Congratulations on receiving your blood recognition award for 100 blood donations and 250 platelet donations.

Please write to / email your local MP and ask them to support the work of the APPG in 3 easy steps:

What’s it like ? STEM CELL DONATION Click image above 👆

1. find the name and address of your local MP, by entering your postcode here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
2. explain why this cause is important to you – feel free to use / adapt / copy and paste the letter below or indeed write something that is more relevant to you
3. fill in your details (see bold font below) and send

Team Margot
Together, saving lives

________

Dear Your MPs Name

I am writing to you as my MP to ask you to support the new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ethnicity, Transfusion and Transplantation.  This subject is extremely important to me because enter your personal involvement

click the image above to hear two fathers talking about ORGAN DONATION 👆

I recently attended a blood recognition ceremony and heard a talk given by Yaser Martini from the charity, Team Margot Foundation. The charity is Secretariat for the abovementioned APPG (see: teammargot.com/appg), which published the inquiry report “Where are our nation’s donors?” in the House of Commons on 4 December 2023.

The report says that lives are being lost because of a lack of ethnic minority and mixed heritage donors. The publication of the report follows an inquiry held by Officers of the APPG – Sarah Olney MP, Jackie Doyle-Price MP, Rt Hon. Mark Tami MP – in 2023. The inquiry received 54 pieces of written evidence and held two oral evidence sessions with expert witnesses.

The report says that the UK’s ethnic minority and mixed heritage population face a double whammy of inequity as they are more likely to need donors due to conditions which disproportionately affect them, such as sickle cell and kidney disease, but less likely to find well-matched donors on the blood, stem cell and organ donor registers. This is particularly true for patients in need of stem cell transplants for the treatment of blood cancer, where matched tissue type (most often found in donors from a similar ethnic background) is critical to successful outcomes.

Click image above for a thank you from Margot 👆

Key recommendations include:

• Improved governance and accountability – with a new minister to be appointed for transplant and transfusion inequalities, an equality tsar to galvanise action and a ministerial review of all organisations and national charities along the transplant and transfusion pathway
• Improved data, reporting and transparency – with a roundtable to be convened by the Race Health Observatory to consider data recommendations made, a review by the Department of Health and Social Care of the strategic objectives and financial imperatives behind the targets for all forms of donor recruitment and a review of the Organ Donor (Deemed Consent) Act 2019 to understand the impact of family’s rights to overturn donors wishes, with a particular focus on the impact on mixed heritage and ethnic minority donations
• Improved education, awareness and activity – with a review of funding for charities and community campaign groups, and wide action to build a culture of donation across the whole UK population

I would be extremely grateful if you would be willing to join this All-Party Parliamentary Group and support its work. I would also be delighted to meet you in person and discuss the issue which is so vitally important in ensuring that the NHS is able to support all UK citizens, irrespective of their ethnicity.

Every successful donation is family tragedy averted.

Thank you for your help.

Yours sincerely

Your name

Your address (needed to show that you live in the constituency)

Your contact details

Yaser

Husband to Vicki and father to Oscar (2007), Rufus (2008), Digby (2015), Humphrey (2017) & Margot (2012-2014)