To the National Assembly for Wales:

We, the undersigned, declare the need to increase the number of people in Wales who carry organ donor cards.

We support the assertion in the recently published Welsh Assembly Government statement Designed to Tackle Renal Disease that The supply of donor kidneys does not match the demand and as a result there is an ever-increasing waiting list for such treatment.

Around 22% of the eligible population in Wales is registered on the NHS Organ Donor Register, though 70% of the Welsh population has indicated they would be prepared to be involved in such a scheme.

We, the undersigned, recognise that a united campaign is needed to increase the number of potential organ donors through continued investment in publicity and in education campaigns to increase public awareness of the need for organ donation, to encourage people to enrol on the organ donor register and to make their wishes known to those close to them.

Kidney Wales Foundation has historically been instrumental in promoting organ donation in Wales and wishes to continue to highlight the importance of organ donation

The petitioner(s) therefore request/call on that the National Assembly for Wales to work with Kidney Wales Foundation and other stakeholders to set and achieve a target of doubling kidney donors in Wales by the end of this National Assembly in 2011.

We request that the Assembly match our funding for a campaign by matching our contribution pound for pound.

Allison John presented the Presiding Officer Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas AM and the new Petitions Committee Chair Val Lloyd AM with a Petition to the National Assembly of Wales to increase the funding for more people in Wales to register on the Organ Donor Register. Present were Mike German and Andrew RT Davies who are on the Petitions Committee and John Reever of the Welsh Kidney Patients Association and Trustees of Kidney Wales.

I am delighted to accept this petition from Kidney Wales . It’s very pleasing that we are receiving Petitions under our new system and the Petitions Committee has been set up to look at petitions and decide how to proceed with them. For the first time, members of the public and organisations/charities such as Kidney Wales will not only be able to petition the National Assembly and ask for action to be taken in those areas of policy for which the Assembly is responsible, but the Assembly will be required to act on the petition, if it is within the powers of the Assembly. We are also carrying out an open consultation to invite people to give their ideas about how we can make this new system work best. We want it to be open, responsive, efficient and effective, and I urge people to look at our website and respond to the consultation.Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Presiding Officer, National Assembly for Wales.

Pictured at the Assembly on 10 of July are 2007 : Mike German AM, Allison John (KW Ambassador), Raj Aggarwal OBE (Chairman KW), Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas, Andrew Davies AM, Val Lloyd AM, John Reever WKPA and Roy J. Thomas (Exec Chair KW)