UK organ donation numbers hit record levels in 2017-18

New data from NHS Blood and Transplant has revealed that a record number of organ donors was seen during the 2017-18 financial year.

For the first year ever, more than 1,500 people in the UK donated their organs after they died, with the number rising by 11 percent over the previous year. This was the highest ever number of donors, with the year-on-year increase the greatest in 28 years.

Additionally, the number of missed referral opportunities has been reduced by 28 percent, meaning 99 percent of potential donors through brain death are now referred to NHS Blood and Transplant, as well as 89 percent of potential donors through circulatory death.

Sally Johnson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "I am so grateful to all those families who have chosen to help others at a time of personal tragedy. This news will give hope to the desperately ill people who are waiting for that lifesaving phone call."

The government is currently looking to further improve the supply of donations by introducing an opt-out system for organ donation, meaning it will be assumed that people are willing to donate their organs unless otherwise specified.

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