Your Guide to Organ Donation - Michael Morris

https://www.directline.com/life-cover/organ-donation - Read the full article by following this link-

Waiting for a Transplant Explained

Organ transplants are one of the most important achievements of modern medicine. A surgeon’s ability to remove healthy organs from a person and transplant them into someone else, whose organs have failed or been injured, is life-saving.

As amazing as transplant are, they don’t happen as often as they could. Not everyone is signed up with the NHS ODR, and many relatives aren’t willing to donate organs on their loved one’s behalf. This means there’s always a long waiting list for transplants.

But what does it mean to wait for a transplant? It’s a nerve-racking time. Average waiting times can vary, depending on the organ and whether you’re a priority patient. Figures from 2015 show that 6,856 patients were on the active waiting list for a transplant. Of these:

• 3,194 have waited less than a year

• 1,584 between 1 and 2 years

• 905 between 2 and 3 years

• 454 between 3 and 4 years

• 208 between 4 and 5 years

• 139 between 5 and 6 years

• 91 between 6 and 7 years

• 281 more than 7 years

   

  Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

   

  There are even some people too ill to be placed on the waiting list.

  Organ donation saves lives. When people donate their organs and tissues for transplant, they can save or improve someone else’s life. In the UK, around 6,500 people are waiting for a transplant. Without organ donors, our doctors and nurses can’t help them. The stats speak for themselves:

   

• Three people die every day due to a shortage of people willing to donate organs

• Half a million people die each year, but only around 5,000 people die in circumstances where their organs can be donated

   

  Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

   

Some people forget to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR). Others don’t feel comfortable with the idea. Whilst many are simply confused. This guide provides you with all the information you need to make the decision on whether to be an organ donor.
 

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.