Life-savers at work

Transplant timetable

1967 Christiaan Barnard performs the world’s first heart transplant on Louis Washkansky in Cape Town. The patient dies after 18 days

1968 First heart transplant in the UK is performed. The patient survives for 45 days. Within two years, a moratorium is imposed after more surgery with comparably poor results

1971 Ciclosporin is discovered, introducing a new age of immunosuppressant drugs that make rejection of donor organs less likely

1976 Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties produce report defining brain stem death. This gives cover to remove organs from people whose brains are so damaged they cannot recover 1979 January: Terence English performs a heart transplant on Charles McHugh, who dies after three days

August Terence English performs the UK’s first successful heart transplant on Keith Castle

2011 Matthew Green is first UK patient to receive a portable total artificial heart implant

2020 England will move to an opt-out system in which all adults will be deemed an organ donor unless they have recorded their opposition