Organ transplant opportunities still being missed

NHS Blood and Transplant has warned that as many as 2,500 more organs could be made available for transplant in the UK if families spoke more openly about donating after death.

Although last year there was a record number of donors - 1,600 in total - about a third of the newly-bereaved families who were asked decided against their loved-one's organs being reused. The NHS organisation believes that the more that people talk about their wishes, the easier it will be for relatives to agree to donations.

Wales, England and Scotland have introduced new laws on consent for organ donation to boost donor numbers. But families retain the final say on whether or not organ donation goes ahead, even if the patient has expressed a wish to become a donor. The new laws around organ donation have already taken effect in Wales, and England and Scotland will follow suit next year, but Northern Ireland will not be adopting it.

Last year, more than two-thirds of the families of potential organ donors agreed to a donation. But 835 families did not want to, mostly because they had never discussed organ donation with their loved one.

Approximately 6,000 people in the UK are waiting for a transplant, but NHS Blood and Transport believe that 400 will die before an operation can go ahead.

Anthony Clarkson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "Even after the law around organ donation changes in England and Scotland next year, families will still be approached before organ donation goes ahead.

"We urge everyone to register their organ donation decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell your family the choice you have made. If the time comes, we know families find the organ donation conversation with our nurses much easier if they already know what their relative wanted."