Plea to sign up after thousands die waiting for a donation

MORE than 12,000 people in the UK have died or been removed from the transplant waiting list over the past 10 years before receiving the lifesaving organs they desperately needed - including 703 in the Midlands.

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Figures released by NHS Blood and Transplant to mark Organ Donation Week show that 4,900 people died while actively waiting for a lifesaving transplant, and a further 7,700 were removed from the active list after being deemed too sick to receive one, with many dying soon after - highlighting the urgent need to increase organ donation registrations.

Earlier this year, NHSBT revealed the transplant waiting list had reached its highest level ever recorded with 8,000 people actively waiting for a lifesaving transplant - 1,471 of those in the Midlands.

Meanwhile, there were 100 fewer deceased organ donors in the UK last year, resulting in a two per cent drop in lifesaving transplants.

“Someone will die today waiting for an organ transplant,” said Anthony Clarkson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant.