Plea as waiting list for life-saving transplants rises by 85% in 10 years

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Some 311 patients, including 45 children, need the life-saving operation, compared with 169 patients in March 2012.

This is despite heart transplants continuing during the pandemic – 161 were carried out in 2020/21.

Although people in England and Wales now have to opt out of donations, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) says many are not aware families can still have the final word.

NHSBT organ and tissue donation director, Anthony Clarkson, said: “Thousands are waiting for the call that a donor has been found. Hundreds of them need a heart transplant.

“This Valentine’s Day, we encourage everyone to have that heart-toheart. Talk to your family and tell them your organ donation decision,. And make sure you know what they would want too, so you can support their decision.”

Ryan Gabb, 30, who has been waiting for a heart transplant since May 2018, six months after suddenly suffering fatigue, flu-like symptoms and breathlessness.

He said: “I was told I had dilated cardiomyopathy and would likely need a heart transplant. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I used to be a blood donor and I also joined the NHS Organ Donor Register when I was 18.

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“I thought both were important, but I never expected that my life would change so much.”

Ryan, of Wrexham, has a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) while he waits for a donor.

He needs his phone with him at all times and electricity to charge the device’s batteries, but says: “The worry of power cuts is always in the back of my mind.

“I have been told I could have a long wait for a heart, which is hard to hear in your mid-20s. I hope more people will discuss organ donation with their families and register their decision.” So far, only 43 percent of UK people have told the NHS Organ Donor Register of their choice and just 38 percent have made their families aware.

Primary care minister, Maria Caulfield, stressed that making families aware could save a life.

She said: “It’s vital more people consider becoming donors, especially those from black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds.”

• Register your donation decision on the NHS app, visit organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23

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