More than 1,500 people in the region waiting for life-saving transplants
More than 1,500 people in the Midlands are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, yet the region has one of the lowest registration rates on the NHS Organ Donor Register in the country.
Just 36% of people in the Midlands have formally registered their donation decision, the second lowest rate in England and below the national average of 40%.
In the last year alone, 64 people in the region died while waiting for a transplant, with 703 deaths recorded over the past decade.
Although the law now assumes consent unless a person has opted out, families remain central to the final decision.
In the Midlands, only 55% of families consulted support donation going ahead, the third-lowest consent rate in England. Research shows families are far more likely to honour a loved one’s wishes when those wishes have been formally recorded.
‘A second chance at life‘
Matthew Smith, 53, from Wednesbury, received a double lung transplant earlier this year after ten months on the waiting list, having been diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.
“I feel extremely lucky that a family decided to donate and gave me a second chance at life,” he said.
“I can now breathe without an oxygen tank, which is the strangest sensation but so liberating. I want to carry my donor’s legacy on by living the best life that I can.”
Register your decision today
Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We just don’t have enough donors to get everybody the transplant that they need.
“By registering your decision, you’ll leave your family in no doubt about what you want and you could save up to nine lives.”
To register, visit organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 or use the NHS app.
