Circle News

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon said:

"The Scottish Government is investing £5.5 million towards meeting national recommendations made by the UK Organ Donation Taskforce.

"This report shows we are making substantial progress in putting in place the arrangements needed to make organ donation a usual event as part of end-of-life care.

"In the past year there were 72 deceased donors in Scotland - the highest number for 10 years. The generosity of these donors means that around 500 people have had their lives saved or transformed by a new organ or tissue.

"This number equates to a rate of 14.1 donors per million people. The challenge we have set is that we should reach a rate of 24 donors per million by 2013. That would mean 120 actual donors.

"We do not underestimate that challenge, but we are determined to rise to it to stop people dying for lack of a donated organ."

Chair of the Scottish Transplant Group and Lead Clinician for Organ Donation and Transplantation John Forsythe said:

"I am delighted to see that the donor numbers in Scotland have reached a 10 year high recently. This has resulted in a 27 per cent increase in the total number of transplants performed in Scotland compared with 2006-2007.

"It is clear that the Scottish population has responded to the massive need for organ transplantation with individuals expressing their wish to consider organ donation by adding their names to the organ donor register, this is up 17 per cent since 2007. In addition families have demonstrated a great act of generosity in authorising the act of donation at a time of tragedy in their lives.

"However there is still much work to be done. Over 800 Scottish residents await a life saving transplant and sadly too many people still die whilst on the waiting list. There has been much work done by the Scottish Transplant Group and the whole of NHS Scotland to improve these figures. We are delighted to report excellent improvement but accept that there is still much work to do."

A national advertising and publicity campaign is being prepared for early 2010 to raise awareness of organ donation and encourage more people to sign up to the register.

The report, Working Together to Save Lives, details the progress made since the Organ Donation Programme Delivery Board was established in July 2008. The board was established to take forward implementation across the UK of the recommendations from the Organ Donation Taskforce. These are about removing barriers to donation and are expected to increase donor rates across the UK by at least 50 per cent by 2013.

Scotland is also making progress on the Taskforce's other recommendations, including the establishment of clinical leads for organ donation in Scotland's largest hospitals. In addition eight of the eleven mainland NHS Boards have now appointed Chair of Donation Committees to help maximise the overall number of organs donated. Another six Donor Transplant Co-ordinators have been appointed to support potential donors and their families at this difficult time.