Organ Donation
"Would you like your loved ones to be offered a transplant if they needed one?"
Research shows there is huge support for organ donation in Scotland with around 93% of the adult population in favour. However, despite this enormous theoretical support only 27% have registered on the ODR and there remains a real shortage of organs and a desperate need for donors.
Passive endorsement like this, where people support the concept of organ donation but fail to sign up, remains one of the main challenges we face as 700 people wait for a transplant.
With around 50 people dying each year in Scotland during that wait, the Scottish Government is urging the public to take action and join the Organ Donation Register.
One of the common misconceptions about organ donation is that everyone who wishes to be on donor will become one. There are a number of factors which can prevent a transplant, and out with the many medical aspects involved, relative refusal is a key factor. It's important that once you register, you discuss it with your next of kin.
93% of Scots surveyed say they are in favour of organ donation.
27% of Scots have actually joined the Organ Donation Register.
40% of relatives of deceased – but potential organ donors – refuse a transplantation to go ahead.
It is estimated that of 108,000 new UKT registrations made between 2005 and 2006, only 3 individuals will become actual donors = 6 kidney transplants.
1 kidney transplant saves the NHS on average £214k.
6 transplants would save the NHS around £1.2 Million.
Over 700 people in Scotland are currently waiting on a life changing – or life saving – transplant.
In the UK between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2007:
3,086 organ transplants were carried out, thanks to the generosity of 1,495 donors.
949 lives were saved in the UK through a heart, lung, liver or combined heart/lungs, liver/kidney, liver/pancreas or heart/kidney transplant.
A total of 2,137 patients received a kidney, pancreas or combined kidney/pancreas transplant.
A further 2,402 people had their sight restored through a cornea transplant.
A record number of non-heart beating donor kidney transplants took place and accounted for one in seven of all kidney transplants.
The highest number of combined kidney/pancreas transplants took place (164, representing a 53% increase on 2005-2006).
Living donor kidney transplants increased – 461 in 2003-2004, 475 in 2004-2005, 589 in 2005-2006, and 690 in 2006-2007, representing more than one in four of all kidney transplants.
At the end of March 2007, 7,234 patients were listed as actively waiting for a transplant.
Almost a million more people pledged to help others after their death by registering their wishes on the NHS Organ Donor Register, bringing the total at 31 March 2007 to 14,201,229.
Join the Organ Donation Register.
Call 0845 60 60 400 or log on to www.infoscotland.com/organdonor
Comments
Hi Pauline, in answer to your questions, this is from the Organ Donor Website-Is there a minimum age to join the NHS Organ Donor Register?
No. Parents and guardians can register their children and children can register themselves. Children who are under 12 in Scotland and under 18 in the rest of the UK at the time of registration will require their parent or guardian's agreement for donation to take place.
Children over 12 in Scotland are considered legally competent to register themselves and their parent/guardian does not have the legal right to veto or overrule their wishes.
Alex
Is there a age limit to joining the organ donor register.pauline kobylka