Organ donations hit new low at West Midlands' hospitals

The Royal Wolverhampton Trust has not received a single organ donation in a six month period up to February, according to the Patient Safety Improvement Group and a paper submitted for discussion by the Board on March 30.

Now officials at the Trust are strongly supporting the government's 'opt out' organ donation scheme, which automatically registers everyone as a donor unless they choose to 'opt out'.

However, there is some debate over the usefulness of the scheme, as the decision to donate organs is ultimately left in the hands of surviving family members.

Speaking at a recent board meeting of the Trust, chief executive David Loughton CBE said: "I have a friend who is a donor and wants to donate his organs when he passes away but his family do not want him to – so he may not be able to donate when he dies, because his family have the right to make the decision once he's passed." New research has been launched by Dr Magi Sque and colleagues to look into the ethical and legal considerations of organ donation to encourage more people to become donors.

Most recently, a campaign launched by Walsall Manor Hospital saw 80 new donors sign up. The Trust's clinical lead for organ donation Dr Opeyemi Babatola said: "I see both sides of this – the patients who are desperate for a new kidney for example and the families who, at the worst time in their lives, support a loved one's decision."

Most recent national figures on the level of organ donation show that the Trust is not alone in its low receipt of donations. Russells Hall Hospital has had ten deceased donors in the last five years.

Sally Johnson, Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "Fewer people in the West Midlands have signed up to be an organ donor than in other parts of the country." And the situation is mirrored at Walsall Manor Hospital.

As of March 23 this year there were 6,461 people on the active transplant list across the country awaiting a donation of organs and 172 of those were children. Though 21.8 million people in the UK are signed onto the NHS organ donor register, this only means that they would donate if possible in the event of their death, providing their surviving family members approve the donation. Dr Jonathan Odum, medical director at the Wolverhampton Trust said: "

We should be trying to get organs transplanted before a patient requires dialysis, which can cost around £30,000. Anything we can do has a double benefit."