4 September 2018

Words Save Lives

Organ Donation Week 2018

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is asking people to support Organ Donation Week this week (September 3 to 9), as new figures show the number of lives saved by local donors.

The national NHS campaign is urging people to talk to their families about organ donation to increase the number of people whose lives can be saved or transformed by an organ transplant.

Nationally, three people die every day in need of an organ, and there are around 45 in the Sheffield area on the transplant waiting list.

Families will always be approached about donation if a loved one can donate their organs. Knowing what their loved one wanted helps families support their decision at a difficult time.

The latest figures from NHS Blood and Transplant show that 155 people have donated their organs at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals over the last 10 years, together enabling 433 transplants.

Only around 1% of people die in circumstances where they can donate so every donor is incredibly precious. People who die in circumstances where donation is possible are usually patients who have been taken to hospitals specialising in trauma and brain injuries.

More and more families are saying yes to organ donation, but there is still an urgent need for donors.

Only one third of adults in England have told their partner or their family they want to donate, despite 8 out of 10 people saying they would be willing to donate or would consider it.

This means many opportunities are lost every year because families don’t know if their loved one wanted to be a donor or not.

Anthony Clarkson, Interim Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant said: “Words save lives. Please, tell your family you want to save lives through organ donation, because it could be the difference between life and death for someone else.”

Millions of people are already on the NHS Organ Donor Register, join them today and tell your family you want to save lives. Register at www.organdonation.nhs.uk
 



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