The NHS is urgently calling on people in England to donate organs after they die – and tell their loved ones of their wishes.
For the first time in the health service’s history, a public alert has been issued warning of critically low donor numbers.
The appeal comes as new figures show more than 8,700 people are waiting for a lifesaving transplant, with nine people dying every week while on the waiting list.
Organ donors are down 9 per cent on last year, while the pool of eligible donors has fallen by around 20 per cent since 2019-20.
England has operated an ‘opt-out’ system since May 2020, meaning most adults are considered willing organ donors unless they have recorded a decision not to donate or are in an excluded group.
However, families remain central to the donation process and are often asked to clarify a loved one’s wishes.
NHS Blood and Transplant says hundreds of potential transplants are being lost because relatives are unsure what the deceased would have wanted, leaving doctors to err on the side of caution.
More than 700 potential donations did not proceed between April 2021 and March 2026 because families were unable to confirm their loved one’s wishes, equating to more than 2,100 potential transplant opportunities.
The number of organ donors has fallen by nine per cent compared with the same period last year
The NHS Organ Donor Register allows people to record their donation decision and preferences. Individuals can choose to donate all, some or none of their organs and tissue.
The challenge is being compounded by a shrinking number of donors.
Only around 1 per cent of people die in circumstances where organ donation is possible, typically in an intensive care unit or emergency department, and each deceased donor donates an average of three organs.
At the same time, family consent rates have dropped from 67 per cent in 2020-21 to 57 per cent last year, resulting in hundreds of missed opportunities for transplantation.
Families support donation in 90 per cent of cases when they know their loved one’s decision, but that figure falls to around 50 per cent when no decision has been discussed.
One patient in desperate need of a transplant is 34-year-old Jodie Cantle, who has been waiting more than eight years for new lungs.
Jodie, from Devon, has lived with cystic fibrosis since she was four months old – an inherited condition that causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and other organs, leading to severe breathing difficulties and recurrent infections.
After developing sepsis on Boxing Day 2017, she was left requiring 24-hour oxygen and reliant on a wheelchair. She joined the lung transplant waiting list in May 2018 due to the extent of the damage to her lungs.
Since then, she has received 21 potential donor matches, but every transplant has fallen through.
In one case, lungs that had been described as ‘perfect’ could not be transplanted because there was no operating theatre available.
Jodie Cantle has been waiting more than eight years for new lungs
‘Now, when I get a call, I assume it’s not going to go ahead and don’t feel excited,’ she says.
‘It’s a five-hour drive to the hospital, knowing that at any minute we could be told to turn around and come home.
‘Almost every time, I’ve been gowned up and ready to go into theatre when I’ve been told it’s not going ahead.
‘We are getting really frustrated now. I physically can’t go on much longer. It’s so exhausting and mentally draining.’
Jodie believes many opportunities are lost because people never tell their relatives they want to be donors.
‘I think people really need to talk to their family and make it clear that they do want to be a donor,’ she says.
‘It’s just a two-minute conversation. It really doesn’t have to be doom and gloom.
‘For me, I think it would be a nice thought that my family’s organs are living on inside somebody else. It’s almost like they’re living on.’
Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, says: ‘We are facing one of the most challenging periods for organ donation in over a decade.
‘The sharp decline in donors and the rising number of people waiting for a transplant need urgent action.
‘Saving lives and reducing the waiting list needs a collective effort across the NHS and society.
‘Most of us would accept an organ if we needed one, but opportunities to save lives are being lost because families didn’t know what their loved ones wanted. Leave them certain.’
You can record your choice to donate or opt out online through the NHS Organ Donor Register, by calling 0300 123 23 23, or via the NHS App.
