Organ donation in Crawley

As of this month, there are 6,462 people in the UK waiting for an organ transplant. Despite this in the course of the last year only 3,052 transplants took place, with 1,183 donors.

That mismatch in donor numbers and transplants may look odd, but while it is possible for a person to donate a whole kidney and increasingly parts of other organs and still live, a deceased donor may well contribute a number of viable organs for donation.

Clearly, if the number of people needing a transplant is double that of those receiving an organ then there is an issue with capacity. In 2020, the UK switched to an opt-out system for organ donation, so if you are over 18, do not belong to an excluded group, and have not actively opted out, then you are on the organ donor register.

So, while only 23m out of a UK-wide population of 69m have actively registered a desire to have their organs donated, the potential pool of donors is much larger. So why then when the annual death toll is over 600k each year, do we have so few donations taking place?

I can’t seem to find a clear answer to this question anywhere, but I would imagine that it comes down to a combination of the causes of death tending to mean that organs are not viable for transplantation, compatibility issues with the organs available compared to what donors need, and that the donors aren’t in the right place at the right time for the right organs to be transplanted.

Of course, the more organs which are made available the more likely it is that a donor will get the lifesaving transplant that they need. So, do make sure to register your decision and if you have any questions a quick guide to the biggest questions and myths can be found here.

Where does Crawley sit in all this?

We currently have more people donating organs than receiving transplants within the town, but despite this there are far more on our waiting list waiting for the organ they despierately need.