Organ donation figures reveals 34 Hampshire people saved lives last year
NEW figures have shown that 34 people in the county gave the gift of life in the last year by donating their organs after their death.
Across the country 1,580 people in the UK donated their organs in 2019/20 after they died, according to figures by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and allowed 3,760 patients to have the organ transplant they needed, including 79 people in Hampshire.
Waiting lists at the end of February this year showed that more than 6,000 people are in need of a transplant in the UK with 125 of these patients living in Hampshire.
In the last five years, 64 people from the county have died before they received the organ they desperately needed.
Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHSBT, said: ‘Amazing organ donors and their families make life-saving transplants possible, by giving their support and saying “yes” to organ donation.
‘It’s wonderful to see that we were, once again, on track to surpass the number of organ donors in 2019/20 than the previous year before Covid-19 hit.
‘This is testament to the selfless families, including 34 families in Hampshire, who agreed to donate their loved one’s organs in the most tragic of circumstances.’
The national deceased organ donor figures were on course to surpass the previous year’s total, but unfortunately the global Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the whole of the NHS.
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The recovery of donation and transplantation is now back underway and the majority of transplant units have now reopened.
It is hoped that after England moved to an opt out system on May 20 this year, support for organ donation will continue to improve.
Mr Clarkson added: ‘It is disappointing but inevitable that donation and transplantation has been impacted by the worldwide pandemic. What is incredible though is that throughout this crisis, we have continued to see such strong support for organ donation and the most urgent transplants have still gone ahead and saved the lives of desperately ill adults and children.
‘As we learn to live with Covid-19, and boosted by the new law and growing public support, we hope more lives than ever before can be saved.’
Visit organdonation.nhs.uk