226 die while waiting for organ transplant in Black Country and Staffordshire
More than 200 people in Black Country and Staffordshire have died while waiting for an organ transplant in the last decade.
The shocking figure was revealed today by NHS Blood and Transplant in a desperate bid to get more donors.
A total of 119 of those who died lived in Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Sandwell while 107 were from Staffordshire.
Twenty nine died in Shropshire and the total number of lives lost in the West Midlands over the same period was 302.
Twenty five of the deaths were in Walsall, 35 in Wolverhampton, 24 in Dudley and 35 in Sandwell.
Now 129 more people face a similar risk while waiting for a donor in the Black Country and a further 105 are in the same situation in Staffordshire.
But NHS bosses reckon hundreds of lifesaving transplants are being missed every year because families had not been made aware of what their relatives wishes were.
They believe many people think it ‘safer’ to say no to a donation request on behalf of another person when they really do not know what the person thought about the issue.
Anthony Clarkson, assistant director of Organ Donation and Transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant, which revealed the statistics at the start of Organ Donation Week, said: “It is a tragedy that people are dying unnecessarily waiting for transplants.
"We know that if everyone who supported donation talked about it and agreed to donate, most of those lives would be saved.”
He urged: “This week tell your family you want to save lives. A few words now can make an extraordinary difference. It will also make things much easier for your family to make the right decision.
“If you want to save lives don’t leave it too late to talk to your family.
“In the West Midlands and Staffordshire there are over a million people on the NHS Organ Donor Register. However if you want to be a donor, your family’s support is still needed for donation to go ahead.”
There is a particular need for black and Asian donors in the West Midlands with 186 black or Asian people from the West Midlands currently waiting for a transplant while in Staffordshire the figure is 22.
Patients from these communities make up 29 per cent of the national transplant waiting list but they are less likely to agree to donate.
Organs from people from the same ethnic background are more likely to be a close match and give the best chance of a positive outcome.
