Nearly 3,500 patients received the organ transplant they needed in 2013 due to an increase in the number of people donating their organs after their death in the UK. Some 1,323 people became organs donors in 2013 compared to 1,164 in 2012 - a 13.7% increase.
Since 2007/8 there has been substantial investment in the infrastructure supporting organ donation and transplantation. For example, clinical leads for organ donation and specialist nurses have been established in hospitals, NICE guidance has been put in place and specialist organ retrieval teams have been set up. Last summer, NHS Blood and Transplant and the four UK health administrations announced a new strategy Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020, which set out aims to match the best countries in the world for organ donation and how they intend to achieve this.
Sally Johnson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “The increase in donors in 2013 is testimony to all the hard work that takes place within hospitals, to the commitment of critical care and emergency department staff to donation, and most of all to the generosity of donors and their families. But we can and must do more as three people are still dying in the UK every day in need of a transplant.
“Last year we set out our aspiration to match the best countries in the world for organ donation and transplantation, and if we are going to achieve this, we will need to see a revolution in attitudes in society towards donation. The increase in donors reflects increasing support in hospitals to refer potential donors to us and more families being approached, but there has been little change in our attitude to donation over the last few years. It’s still not something we would all be proud to do.”
In 2013, 58.6% of families approached in the UK about donation agreed to donate compared to 56.5% the previous year. The aim is to reach an 80% consent rate by 2020.
Families are more likely to consent to, or authorise, donation when the express wish of their loved one is known. In 2013, 94% of families across the UK agreed to donation when their loved one was registered and had discussed their wishes. This dropped to 80% when they were on the register but had not discussed donation and only 43.5% when wishes weren’t known at all.
