Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Amazing result after Mirror’s 2-year fight
and I’m sure many, many lives will be saved as a result.” Fellow MP Dan Jarvis added: “I must pay tribute to the tireless work of the Mirror, the family of Max, and campaigners like Paul Flynn and Geoffrey Robinson.
“This shows what a difference a campaigning newspaper can make.”
Kidney Care UK called the decision to change the law “a truly momentous day for the 25,000 people in England on dialysis with kidney failure”.
Policy director Fiona Loud said: “One person dies every day whilst waiting for a kidney transplant and this change has the potential to be both life-saving and life-changing.”
British Heart Foundation chief executive Simon Gillespie added: “This commitment to a soft opt-out system is a commitment to ending the agonising pain felt by families who risk losing a loved one while they wait for a donor. This change can’t come soon enough for patients.” British Medical Association chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “The decision to introduce an opt-out system for organ donation is excellent news and has the potential to save many lives.
“The health service must have the resources to ensure transplants can be performed when they are needed.” The law change means England will follow Wales with an opt-out system. Scotland also has plans to change. Mrs May hailed our front page story on September 4 that revealed 457 Brits could have been saved if there was such a system in place. The PM said: “Our ability to help people who need transplants is limited by the number of donors. There are 6,500 on the transplant list today.
“So to address this challenge that affects all communities in our country, we will change that system. Shifting the balance of presumption in favour of organ donation.”
She will launch a consultation on the issue before changing the system.
A No 10 spokesman said: “It will propose to automatically enter everyone on the donor register, unless they decide to opt out.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Lib Dem boss Sir Vince Cable both backed our Change The Law For Life campaign at their party conferences. THE Daily Mirror’s Change the Law for Life campaign called for everyone in the UK to be assumed to have agreed to donate their organs after death unless they actively opt out.
We launched our battle in 2015, when Wales introduced an opt-out system, and quickly won support from the public, patients, MPS, health groups and the British Medical Association.
An early victory came when Scotland said it would follow Wales after our pressure. And Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson launched a Private Member’s Bill to adopt the new system across the UK after calling the case for change “overwhelming”.
The bill was to be heard in February 2018 but Mr Robinson said last night he will now consult Jeremy Hunt on bringing in the change after Theresa May said the Government would move to an opt-out system.
We also highlighted the story of Max Johnson, who urged the Prime Minister to change the system as part of our campaign. Over the two years, the Mirror and our website Mirror Online ran hundreds of news stories, features and probes. Our petition hit
10,000 and we were backed by
Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn and the Lib
Dem leader Sir
Vince Cable.
Last month, we revealed 457 Brits could have been saved last year by changing the system. Mrs May referred to our agenda-setting story when she announced her new organ donation policy yesterday.
Patients last night said they were thrilled by our victory. Michael Tolcher, 27, of Liverpool, said: “I was born with chronic renal failure and following a failed transplant I have been on dialysis since March 2015. Opt-out donation means everything to me because I would like to start a family but being on dialysis and working full-time can be a lot to handle.”
Sofia Field, nine, from Cornwall, had been waiting for a kidney transplant on and off for three years before she finally got her op last Friday. Mum Abi, 31, said of the PM’S announcement: “It’s emotional because it’s something you’ve fought for for ages and finally they’re taking notice and doing it.
“I think it will make a massive difference, I think it will cut the waiting time for people like us. It’s huge.”
William Withers, 44, of Shropshire, has been on the transplant list for almost 16 years. He said: “I think it might help with some of the difficulties professionals face in that situation when they have to ask.”
And Shashi Patel, 37, of Wolverhampton, who has been waiting for a new kidney for more than 20 years, said: “It’s about time. If it brings down the number of people on the list that’s a good thing. Waiting is starting to bug me and one of the reasons is there just aren’t enough donors.”