Last updated 11:43, Friday, 28 November 2008

THERE is a pressing need for more organ donors in the UK, but, unless they have experienced it, nobody can understand what it would be like to be asked if a loved one can be used as an organ donor.

Most people know about carrying a Donor Card and what it means.

But persuading enough people to put their name on the organ donation register has proved difficult. The UK Organ Donation Taskforce has announced that assuming organs could be used unless people opted out was unlikely to boost donation rates. Instead millions will be spent aiming to boost voluntary donor numbers.

Of the 57 people in Cumbria needing a transplant in July, 52 needed kidney transplants, two people needed new hearts, two needed lungs and one needed a liver.

Many of these people – who range from tiny babies to pensioners – will not live if they do not receive a transplant.

On the other hand, 26 people underwent transplants – 17 kidney transplants, one a kidney and pancreas, two had heart transplants, one received a lung, another received a heart and a lung, and four had liver transplants. Another 22 people had their sight restored or improved thanks to donated corneas.

Last year, three Cumbrians died while waiting for transplants but less than a quarter – 23,358 people, of the county’s 500,000-plus population have signed up to the organ donor register.

Dr Nigel Calvert, associate director for public health with NHS Cumbria, said a lot of work went into encouraging people to go onto the organ donation list, from GP practices supplying forms to new clients to the DVLA sending people the form when they apply for a driving licence.

Mr Calvert said: “A lot of countries have an opt-out system and have much higher rates of organ donation because it becomes the norm.

“There is a great shortage of organs and a lot of people are kept waiting for a kidney, or whatever, and they can die before an organ becomes available.

“For every person that dies, there are two kidneys, a liver, corneas and so on. Many people can benefit from just one death, and knowing some good came out of it can give some consolation to relatives.”

He added: “We have an opt-in system and it could be that we are getting fewer organs than if the assumption was that everybody was willing to donate. A different system would need a lot of publicity for it to become the norm and have people accept it.

“Society isn’t quite ready for it at the moment and you would need proper legal advice and consultation, although it does seem to work well in other countries.”

Ray Short, chairman of the Barrow and Furness branch of the British Heart Foundation, said: “I can only speak for myself but I would have it that organs are automatically donated rather than having to ask at the time of death.

“I would be much more in favour of carrying a card saying you wanted to opt out. I would always want people to donate organs.

“They changed the system in Spain and there was a rise, but they thought that it was down to the publicity rather than any change of emphasis. They tried it in the mid-90s and said for the first five or six years there was no appreciable change but they started getting a much better response when they started really pushing the information about transplants.”

Yvonne Warrener, from Grizebeck, donated a kidney to her son Anthony, then 26, two years ago when he had renal failure after suffering from kidney reflux since birth.

Mum and son are doing well and Mrs Warrener said: “It should be compulsory and you should have to opt out if you don’t want to do it.

“Tony was on the waiting list for a live donor for 18 months but was on the register as well. People can wait for years for a transplant from the register.”

Mrs Warrener added: “We went for testing and myself and my other son were compatible.

“I would say to anybody that is thinking about it: ‘Don’t be afraid’. There is nothing to be afraid of.

“Tony is still absolutely fine and having no problems and I’m fine as well.”