‘Famous Five’ back sign-up call Where only 16% agree to donate

FIVE people who got transplants within a record-breaking 36 hours at one hospital have urged people to sign up as donors.

The ops six months ago at Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambs, involved a single lung, two sets of lungs and two hearts. Yvonne Dunham, 67, of Cressingfield, Suffolk, got a heart and calls herself as “one of the Famous Five”.

She said: “You have to be thankful there are people willing to donate and families willing to agree.”

Transplant co-ordinator Sadie Von Joel said of the five ops: ”It was a real one-off.” DONOR registration numbers are as low as 16% in some areas, a map reveals.

It also shows the highest is 71% in South Hams, Devon, followed by Malvern Hills with 67% and Wiltshire 64%.

At the bottom end of the table, created by Esri UK using data from May, is Barking and Dagenham, East London, at 15.99%, then Harlow, Essex, 16.2%, and Newham, East London, 16.3%.

Anthony Clarkson of NHS Blood and Transplant said: “We recognise there is a disparity. This is one of the drivers for Organ Donation Week.”