Designated officers program for South Australian health clinicians

What is a Designated Officer?

Designated Officers are medical practitioners appointed by the Minister under the Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1983 who can authorise, in writing, the removal of organs / tissues for transplantation or for other therapeutic, medical or scientific purposes, hospital post-mortem or whole body donation.

Authorised Persons are officers of the Eye Bank of South Australia (situated at Flinders Medical Centre) and are authorised to remove eye tissue from deceased persons for the purpose of corneal transplantation.

See Introduction to the Roles of the Designated Officer and Authorised Person (PDF 248KB) for further information.

Appointment of Designated Officers

Designated Officers are nominated for each of the major public and private hospital sites by an individual senior in position to the nominee.  The hospital nomination process may vary from site to site.  Generally, a senior hospital administrator will seek advice from Clinical Directors to ensure appropriately qualified Designated Officers are nominated for each site.  To nominate a medical practitioner as a Designated Officer for a hospital please complete the Designated Officer Nomination Form and e-mail to HealthBloodOrganandTissuePrograms@sa.gov.au. 

Following nomination, the Minister for Health and Wellbeing considers and formally appoints each Designated Officer in writing.

Designated Officer list

A copy of the Statewide list of Designated Officers and Authorised Persons list is provided to each hospital following any updates. Alternatively you can contact DonateLife SA on (08) 8207 7117.

Designated Officers and Authorised Persons are now also recorded in the Credentialing and Scope of Clinical Practice System (CSCPS) database which is available for viewing by anyone with an SA Health log-in, from SA Health work stations. Designated Officers and Authorised Persons are easily identifiable by searching ‘SOP Health Unit & Department’ ‘Blood, Organ and Tissue Programs’ on the search tab. The scope of practice as a Designated Officer or Authorised Person is listed under the ‘SOP’ tab in the individuals profile.

For any enquiries or updates to the list, please contact Blood, Organ and Tissue Programs on (08) 8463 6197.