If you’re looking for a new year resolution, make it a potential lifesaver.
That’s the plea from the team at NHS Blood & Transplant, who say that there are 179 patients just in Hertfordshire waiting for a transplant op.
The organisation’s Anthony Clarkson said: “34 people in Hertfordshire have received a life-saving organ transplant from a deceased donor in 2013.
“To help save more people we need everyone, including the 371,947 people who are already on the NHS Organ Donor Register in Hertfordshire, to talk to their loved ones about their donation decision.”
Telling your loved ones about what you want to happen in the event of your death is vital.
In a separate piece of research carried out in England, only 31 per cent of families said they would agree to donation going ahead if they didn’t know what their loved one would want them to do.
Fewer than 5,000 people each year die in circumstances where their organs are suitable for donation.
NHS Blood and Transplant is urging people to talk to their relatives about what they would like to happen in the event of their death, and to record their decision by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register. To join the register, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.