The Journal launches NHS organ donor campaign

Sep 26 2009 by Hannah Davies, The Journal

Today The Journal launches a campaign to get people to sign up to the NHS organ donor list.

The expert

"MORE organ donors would simply mean more lives are saved."

So says Professor Paul Corris, a world expert in lung transplantation and Angela Bernardelli’s doctor at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.

He adds: "Here at the Freeman Hospital we assess three new patients a week for transplant.

"But around 15 to 20 per cent of patients don’t survive on the waiting list.

"Transplantation now is extremely successful. Lung transplants will be successful in 85 per cent coming though the operation in the first year, 50 to 60 per cent well after five to six years and 40 to 50 per cent after 10 years. "These are people who previously were given just 18months to two years to live."

Prof Corris adds that certain conditions such as cystic fibrosis have even higher success rates once lung transplantation has happened.

"Who gets a transplant is decided on first of all by matches of blood group and size, and then by the need of the patient," he explains.

Transplant coordinators then negotiate all these factors along with the necessary doctors.

Prof Corris says getting more people to sign up to the organ donor register is essential and adds: "I can understand people’s concerns about organ donations but I can absolutely say with 100 per cent confidence that the fact your name is on the donor register in no way affects the 100 per cent commitment doctors have in saving your life should the worst happen to you."

Organ donor register facts

THERE are currently more than 16 million people on the Organ Donor Register (ODR) and every person who joins the register is offering hope to the 10,000 people currently needing an organ transplant to save or transform their life.

Many people carry a donor card, but to ensure that your organs may be donated in the event of your death, it is important that you join the ODR and ensure your family are aware of your wishes.

The most popular ways to join the ODR are through the driving licence application and through applications to register with a new GP practice.

Other ways to register include the Boots Advantage Card, passport applications, a number of local authority SmartCard schemes and through the European Health Insurance Card.

More than 3,000 solid organ transplants are carried out each year but the number waiting is growing.The NHS Organ Donor Register has doubled from eight to 16 million since 2001. About 1,000,000 new people join every year.

You are more likely to need a transplant than become a donor.

Click here to register as an NHS organ donor online or telephone (0300) 123 23 23