In support of National Transplant Week to be held from 4th to 10th July, Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is offering information on organ donation.

Around 10,000 people in the UK are in desperate need an organ transplant that could save or dramatically improve their lives. In the event we needed an organ, around 96% of us would take an organ, however, only 29% of the population have put their names down as donors in the Organ Donor Register.

There are around 1,000 deaths every year among patients waiting for an organ transplant, with many of them losing their lives even before making it to the transplant list.

The Trust’s Organ Donation Team, attempting to reduce the gap between the number of patients waiting for a transplant and the available number of organs, have improved donation services throughout the Trust, including ensuring all patients and their families get an opportunity of organ and / or tissue donation. On 4th July between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., an information stand will be put up in the King’s Treatment Centre at King’s Mill Hospital.

Dr. Paul Smith, a consultant in Intensive Care and the Trust’s Lead for Organ Donation, said transplants were modern medicine’s most miraculous achievements, dependant entirely on the generosity of donors and their families.

Every year, organ transplantation helped save or transform thousands of lives, and one could sign up on the NHS Organ Donor Register, by visiting King’s Mill Hospital during National Transplant Week or by calling the organ donor line on 0300 123 23 23.