NHS hooks up with dating app Tinder on organ donations

Made in Chelsea's Jamie Laing has signed up to the campaign

The NHS has partnered with dating app Tinder to raise awareness about organ donations.

The app is used to find people a good personality match but for the next fortnight it will also encourage users to become a donor.

People who swipe on some pictures on the app will be encouraged to sign up to the NHS organ donor register.

The NHS said that it wants more younger people to join its campaign.

In July, NHS Blood and Transplant reported that the number of people in the UK donating organs after death had fallen for the first time in more than a decade.

There are just under 7,000 people currently on the UK transplant waiting list and, in the last decade, more than 6,000 people across the UK have died while waiting for an operation.

Tinder has created bespoke profiles for some of its more high-profile members, including Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones MBE, Emmerdale's Gemma Oaten and Jamie Laing, who takes part in reality show Made in Chelsea.

The celebrities' Tinder profiles will feature The Wait logo to draw attention to the importance of organ donations.

Users who swipe right will match with these profiles and receive a message that says: "If only it was that easy for those in need of a life-saving organ to find a match."

Few swipes

The campaign will allow people to support organ donation

Hermione Way, Tinder's head of European communications, said: "Tinder users regularly make the decision to swipe left or right wondering whether someone may be the person they are looking for.

"While those swiping decisions are important and could be the first step to a successful relationship, we hope that the NHS profiles featuring Jamie, Jade and Gemma will encourage people to make and act upon a different decision too - to sign up as an organ donor."

Sally Johnson, director of Organ Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "Educating and encouraging people to sign up for organ donation - that's what our partnership with Tinder is all about.

"While a third of the UK population have registered their intention to donate on the NHS Organ Donor Register, millions more support donation but haven't taken the final step to sign up.

"Joining the register takes only a couple of minutes - about the same amount of time as a few swipes on Tinder," she added.