NHS waiting list frustration leads to fewer donors for transplant patients

Transplant patients face dying before they can get vital organs because frustrations over NHS waiting lists mean fewer donors.

Leading liver transplant specialist Professor Douglas Thorburn says potential donors and their families are “less inclined to give something back” as a record 7.2 million patients have treatment delayed.

The number of people waiting for a liver has gone up 50% since the pandemic while donors have dropped.

Jayne Pilkington, 43, from Cumbria has been on the transplant list for12 months after being diagnosed with biliary cholangitis which means her immune system is attacking her liver.

She said: “I’ve not been able to work for three years now and I don’t want to be like this forever.

“I’m not going to die today, next week or next month which is good, but my quality of life will only get worse until I get the transplant.”

Prof Thorburn, clinical director of liver transplantation at London’s Royal Free Hospital, said: “The national liver waiting list is the largest it has ever been and there has been a recent fall in consent rates for organ donation.

“Factors impacting the consent rate may include the challenging journey through healthcare that families are reporting.”

Vanessa Hebditch of the British Liver Trust added: “There is a desperate shortage of donors. Patients needlessly die whilst waiting on the transplant list.”

The number of patients needing a new liver has gone up from 450 three years ago to 644 today but there are 100 fewer donors than in 2020. Another 5,145 people are waiting for kidneys, up 419 over the same period

And overall last year there were 330 fewer donors than before the pandemic.

Since 2020 everyone is now considered a donor unless they opt out but families still have to give their consent before organs can be removed.

Prof Thorburn is now urging ministers to launch a public awareness campaign to halt the slide and encourage families to agree to dead loved ones having organs removed.

He added: “Some families who refused donation later regret their decision.”

NHS Blood and Transplant said: “With more people currently waiting for a transplant, it is as important as ever to join the NHS Organ Donor Register and speak with friends and family.”