Number of organ donors in Wales rises in lead up to historic change in the law

The number of people dying in Wales while waiting for a transplant is falling and more than 100,000 more people have signed up to the organ donor register, a new report published today reveals.

The all-Wales annual report for organ donation is being released as 150 healthcare professionals from across NHS Wales meet in Cardiff for the ‘Towards 2020: Organ Donation and Transplantation in Wales’ conference.

The conference comes just weeks before Wales becomes the first country in the UK to introduce a new organ donation system. From December 1, Wales will move to a soft opt-out system – people will be able to register a decision to opt-in to organ donation as they do now; register a decision not to donate and those who do not register a decision during their lifetime will be presumed to be in favour of organ donation.

The change, which is the first of its kind in the UK, could lead to a 25% increase in the number of organ donors.

Belgium introduced a similar system in 1987 and the conference will hear from Luc Colenbie, an expert organ donation advisor to the Belgian Ministry of Health, about increasing donor rates.

Jess Evans and Mike Houlston will also speak at the conference. Their son Teddy became Britain’s youngest ever organ donor, saving an adult’s life after he lived for just 100 minutes.

The all-Wales annual report highlights the improvements in organ donation, including:

• The number of people dying while waiting on a transplant list has reduced from 49 in 2010-11 to 12 in 2014-15
• More than 109,000 people joined the Organ Donation Register between 2010-11 and 2014-15. This is an increase from 30% to 34% of the Welsh population
• In 2014-15 there were 71 deceased organ donors, compared to 60 in 2013-14 and 52 in 2012-13.

However, there is still much more that needs to be done to increase organ donation rates in Wales:

• There are 220 people on the Welsh transplant waiting list at the end of March 2015 compared with 209 at the end of March 2014
• While 9 out of 10 people in Wales support organ donation only one in three people are on the Organ Donor Register
• Since 2010-11 the consent rate in Wales has decreased from 63.5% to 48.5%
• During 2014-15 there were 129 deceased donor transplants compared with 159 during 2013-14 and 158 during 2012-13
• 110 deceased donor and living donor kidney transplants took place in 2014-15 compared to 148 in 2013-14.

Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford said:

“From December, we will be introducing a revolutionary new system for organ donation, which will make a real difference to people waiting for a transplant. Last year, 12 people in Wales died while waiting for a transplant – the change in the law will help us address this by making more organs available for transplantation.

“This report highlights the progress we have made to date in increasing awareness about organ donation but it also illustrates the barriers and issues we still face. It shows our move to a soft opt-out system which will help save lives is as important as ever.”