Figures released by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) reveal that the waiting list for people needing an organ transplant continues to grow, with 7,203 waiting for a kidney, including 138 children.
Increasing numbers of people are reaching kidney failure in the UK, making it more important than ever to remove barriers from the gift of organ donation wherever possible. As Kidney Care UK's Bloody Amazing Kidneys campaign emphasises, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is set to become the fifth leading cause of death worldwide by 2040. A CKD focus can and will change the future and government can help with this.
Ensuring that every potential donor has the best chance of saving lives
For now, the growth in the waiting list continues a worrying trend since the Covid-19 pandemic. With an organ transplant having the potential to transform a recipient's quality of life, Kidney Care UK is joining NHSBT to change this and urge as many people as possible to register their decision on the organ donation register and to have honest conversations with loved ones about their wishes.
We know that there is strong public support for the idea of organ donation, but data from NHSBT shows that family consent or authorisation for deceased donation (where a person donates their organs after death) has fallen by almost a fifth in five years.
Last year, 167 families in the UK overruled their relative's registered or expressed decision to donate over death; 602 families didn't support donation because their relative's consent was presumed but not recorded on the organ donor register. Together, this equated to over 2,000 lost opportunities for transplantation.
Registering your decisions and speaking honestly with your loved ones about your organ donation decision could help save a life: last year, almost 90% of families supported donation when they knew their loved one had made their wishes clear.
NHS Blood and Transplant is calling on one million people in the UK to register their decision to be an organ donor by the start of 2027.
There is more that must be done to increase transplantation. As co-chair of the stakeholder group, Kidney Care UK's Policy Director has worked with the Department of Health and Social Care and the government on the Organ Utilisation Group, which is working on making better use of donated organs; with the use of innovative technologies, more precious donated organs can be used. These important actions, and others, are happening, but Kidney Care UK believes they must go faster.
We remain in awe of the power of donation and the generosity of donors. It is sad to see that, since 2020, the transplant waiting list has carried on increasing and people with kidney disease are waiting longer. It is encouraging that the numbers of living donors have gone up a little; living donations plays such a important part in changing the lives of people with kidney disease. As someone who was incredibly fortunate to receive a kidney from my husband nearly 20 years ago I can attest to the fact that it really does work. These are conversations which can change lives and when families talk about wanting to become organ donors, organ donation is much more likely to go ahead. Our message is: have that conversation!Fiona Loud, Director of Policy at Kidney Care UK and the recipient of a living kidney donation
However, we know that individual conversations are not enough: it's time to see a national kidney strategy to get a grip on kidney failure in the UK. Kidney Care UK are working with the kidney community to challenge the government to do better.
Do you want a join a movement working for real change for people with kidney disease? Join our Kidney Care Campaigners to receive email updates on our work and actions you can participate in.