Lack of organ donors led to 457 avoidable deaths last year

A reluctance to talk about transplants is contributing to a deadly shortage of organs donation, the NHS has said.

NHS Blood and Transplant figures revealed that more than 450 patients waiting for a new organ died last year because families, unsure of their deceased relatives’ wishes, declined to donate.

It said an average of three families a week in the UK decided not to allow organ donation because they were unsure, or did not know whether their relatives would have wanted to donate.

When families are left to make such a decision on their relative’s behalf, some decide it was safer to say no, NHS Blood and Transplant said.

As well as the 457 people who died last year while on the transplant waiting list, a further 875 were taken off it, mainly because of ill health, with many dying shortly afterwards.

New figures show there are 6,414 people in the UK in need of a new organ on the transplant waiting list.

The figures prompted the parents of a four-year-old girl who died waiting for a heart transplant to call for a wider debate about organ donation. Michelle O’Sullivan and Neil Forsyth have backed the NHS campaign to encourage people to talk about their wishes surrounding donation during Organ Donation Week.

Wales introduced an ‘opt-out’ register in December 2015, meaning patients had to be asked to be removed from it, resulting in an immediate rise in the availability of organs to help seriously ill patients.

In late June, Scotland announced plans for a similar system and ministers in England are considering whether to follow suit.

The British Medical Association has previously called for an opt-out system for England, saying that while 66 per cent of people say they would donate after death, only 39 per cent had signed the organ donor register.

Anthony Clarkson, NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We know that if everyone who supported donation talked about it and agreed to donate, most of those lives would be saved.

“This Organ Donation Week tell your family you want to save lives. Don’t leave it too late to talk to your family. If you want to be a donor, your family’s support is still needed for donation to go ahead, even if you are on the NHS organ donor register.”