University Hospital tops organ donation table

2009/2010 was an exceptionally good year for organ donation at University Hospital of North Staffordshire. For the first year ever the Trust was the biggest provider of organs for transplant from all the Midlands hospitals with a total of 17 proceeding organ donors.

Julie Pascoe, an organ donation nurse specialist, was delighted with the numbers. She said: "Organs from these 17 organ donors have been transplanted in centres around the UK, in fact one set of lungs even went to Switzerland.

"This has enabled 61 people to receive whole organ transplants, transforming their quality of life and in many cases this has been life saving. None of this would have been possible without the dedicated work of all the staff at University Hospital. On behalf of all the transplant recipients and their families we would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their hard work."

The Trust has a 78% referral rate and a very respectable 78% consent rate for 2009/2010. From April 2010 the Trust has had organ donation key performance indicators that it will need to meet, these will be based around identification and referral of all potential organ donors, as well as approaching families of all suitable organ donors.

Julie wants more people to think about organ donation. She said: "Some people may just need a nudge in the right direction join the Organ Donor Register. Their commitment could help someone live after their death. More transplants were carried out last year than ever before, but the need for organs never stops. If you believe in organ donation, please register today and let those closest to you know that you have done so."