Impact of telephone consent and potential for eye donation in the UK: the Newcastle Eye Centre study

Aims To examine the impact of telephone consent introduced in 2007 on the eye donation rate and to report the changing trend and potential for improvement in eye donation in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Methods Relevant data were retrospectively collected from the local eye retrieval database for two separate years, namely, 2006 (before the introduction of telephone consent) and 2010. All the hospitals within Newcastle were included in the study. Results From 2006 to 2010, there was a 3.5-fold increase in eye donation from 32 (of 2479 deaths) to 111 donors per year (of 2213 deaths) in Newcastle (P<0.001). Consent was obtained via face-to-face interview in all 32 (100%) and 59 (53.2%) donors in 2006 and 2010, respectively. Introduction of telephone consent increased the donation rate by an additional 88.1% (from 59 to 111 donors) in 2010 (P<0.001). In addition, there was a significant increase in medical notes of the deceased being reviewed from 27.1% (671/2479 cases) in 2006 to 62.4% (1382/2213 cases) in 2010 (P<0.001). Acceptance rate of eye donation was 45.7% (32/70) in 2006 and 49.6% (111/224) in 2010 (P= 0.575). Acceptance rate was positively associated with registration on organ donor register (Po0.001) and telephone consent (P<0.001), but not with age (P= 0.883), gender (P= 0.234), or location of death (P = 0.984) of the potential donors. Conclusion There has been a substantial improvement in eye donation rate in Newcastle over the recent years. Introduction of telephone consent and high-quality eye donation service serve as effective measures for increasing eye donation.