NHS thanks family whose generosity kick-started organ donor campaign

Nhsbloodandtransplanthas thanked the family behind the organ donor campaign ahead of the 70th anniversary of the NHS next month.

The Register was launched in 1994 after a successful five-year campaign by the Cox family from the West Midlands, who campaigned in memory of Peter Cox after he died in 1989.

Mr Cox, 24, had told his family about his wish to donate organs before his death from a brain tumour.

People must currently opt in to the system to donate their organs for transplants after they die.

Legislation has been tabled at Holyrood to shift Scotland to an “opt-out” system for organ donation.

There have also been calls for other parts of the UK to change the legislation, with MPS backing making a similar change in England.

Figures show that 6,600 people who were on the register have become donors since it was launched, leading to 18,000 transplants.

Currently, 45 per cent of the Scottish population have signed up for the organ donor card scheme and numbers increased by 89 per cent over the past decade.

MSPS considered an opt-out system in the previous parliamentary term but narrowly rejected it due to “serious concerns” about the “practical impact of the specific details”

Over 25 million people are on the Organ Donor Register, 38 per cent of the UK population.