46% increase in patients on lung transplant waiting list

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) wants us to discuss the topic of organ donation. Whilst waiting lists for organs has generally reduced by 17% in the last 5 years, the number of patients waiting for a heart or lung transplant has increased, the latter by 46%. Some of this increase could be attributed to more referrals and an ageing population where donors aged over 50 years might have underlying health issues, but the biggest hurdle is grieving family members not willing to give consent.
By 2020 England will have an opt-out system for organ donation whereby the presumption will be made that an adult consents to organ donation unless there is a clear record to the contrary. But in the meantime, 65 people died on the lung transplant waiting list last year, and John Forsythe, associate medical director for organ donation and transplantation at NHSBT, said: “Many of those lives could have been saved or transformed had more families said yes to donation. Sadly, many donation opportunities are lost every year because families don’t know if their loved one wanted to be a donor or not. We urgently need people to tell their families they want to donate.”