Twenty six lives have been saved after a record number of people agreed to donate their organs after death in Bradford following an urgent appeal by health chiefs.

In the last year the organs of nine people who died at Bradford Royal Infirmary were used to save lives around the country, Bradford Teaching Hospitals announced today.

The nine donors represent an increase of 90 per cent in deceased donation since the Foundation Trust started a campaign to increase their numbers. Dr Paul Cramp, the clinical donation champion and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) consultant, said: “Thanks to the altruism of donors and their families in Bradford, a record number of organs have been made available for transplantation since June last year and a record number of people’s lives have been saved or improved.”

The Trust announced its initiative to increase donation – especially from within the south Asian community in Bradford – following the news that the hospital had only had seven donations in the previous five years.

“The increased rate shows that the initiative has been a remarkable success and that people, both here in the hospital and in the community, are serious about organ donation,” said Dr Cramp (above). “The fact that 26 lives have been saved is quite incredible and should act as a living legacy to those people who have so generously donated their organs.

“We are committed to making organ donation usual rather than unusual in Bradford and we will continue our work to increase donation rates in order to help save more lives and stop avoidable deaths of patients awaiting an organ transplant.”

There is still a great need for donors from the Asian community, despite there being a higher rate of live donations (between relatives and siblings).

At this year’s Bradford Mela, the BRI team, who attended the event for the first time, were delighted when more than 30 people signed up to the organ donation register on-line. Consultant physician, Jahangir Rehman said: “Asian people are four times more likely to need a kidney transplant but less likely to get one because of problems with blood groups and tissue type.

“If the organ comes from an Asian donor there is a better chance of success so I would appeal to people in the Asian community to consider joining the organ donor register today, discuss it openly with your family so they can fulfill your wishes when you die.”

The BRI’s specialist nurse in organ donation, Jayne Fisher, works alongside the intensive care consultants and the hospital’s donation committee to champion donations and help enlist potential donors.

Her work ensures more people have their decision to donate fulfilled and more lives are saved through transplantation. She said the vast majority of those donating their organs in the last year were people who died of a spontaneous brain haemorrhagh, ranging in age from people in their 40s to mid 70s.

“The rise in organ donor numbers in Bradford is a tribute to the generosity of the donors and their families, and they deserve our sincere thanks,” she said. “The need for more transplants remains. Donation is a personal choice, and no one would criticise a family for saying no but I have witnessed the positive effect that donation has for a bereaved family so many times.”

To join the register visit organdonation.nhs.uk or phone 0300 123 23 23.

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