Donor registrations are down to a five-year low
Adam Crizzle
The number of people joining the organ donor register has hit a five-year low, prompting calls from two avid campaigners for more people to register.
New figures show that 2011 saw the lowest number of people signing up to the life-saving register in Northamptonshire since 2007.
Only 11,492 people joined last year – a fall of more than 1,000 people from 2010.
Paul Davies, of Thrapston, who donated a kidney to his son in 2010 and inspired an Evening Telegraph campaign that coincided with 9,000 people in the north of the county signing up to the register, believes more work needs to be done.
He said: “You only have to walk around Birmingham children’s hospital and it will break your heart.
“It’s a shame because some people give so many excuses to not sign up and are stuck in the mud.
“It’s only when they are put in the position I was in, they sign up.
“I gave one of my organs to my son Jordan.
“Many other children do not have that option.
“It would help if a soap ran a major storyline on organ donation to get it in the public eye.”
The waiting list for people needing a transplant in the county stands at 161.
Adam Crizzle, of Kettering, has met the health minister as part of his campaign to get the educational Give and Let Live programme rolled out at every school in the country.
He has set up an e-petition and hopes 100,000 people will sign up so it can be debated in Parliament.
It was set up following the death of his wife Jeanette who died of leukaemia while waiting for a bone marrow donor in 2006.
He said: “The data shows there’s no significant improvement since 2007.
“I think this shows a new approach is necessary if we want to potentially save over £150m per year for the NHS and save three lives every day.”
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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