Families no longer asked for CONSENT as figures reveals one in SEVEN block organ donations

BEREAVED families have blocked organs from hundreds of registered donors in the last five years, shocking new figures have revealed.

 

There has been a shift in protocol, as it emerges 1 in 7 families block organ donations

 

The data - from NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) suggests relatives blocked transplants one in seven cases - around 547 deaths - since 2010.

The body said it would no longer seek a family's formal consent in order to reduce the number of "overrides", according to the BBC.

The bereaved will be provided with a leaflet explaining consent remains with the deceased even though families can still block donation by providing reasons in writing, stating the reasons why.

 

The NHS will no longer seek a family's formal consent in order to reduce the number of "overrides"

 

In effect, families still retain the right to veto the donation - but will not be directly told this by the medical staff.

NHSBT estimated the blocked donors would have provided organs for a 1,200 of the 6,578 patients on the waiting list for a transplant, while not asking relatives could result in the number donors rising by nine per cent.

Sally Johnson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHSBT, told the broadcaster: "We are taking a tougher approach - but also a more honest approach.

 

HSBT estimated the blocked donors would have provided organs for a 1,200 of the 6,578 patients

 

"My nurses are speaking for the person who has died. People who join the register want and expect to become organ donors. We do not want to let them down.

“We have every sympathy for families - and of course we do not want to make their grief worse. We think this will make what is a hugely distressing day easier for them, by reducing the burden on them.

"The principle that the individual affected is the one who consents applies throughout medicine, and it is not different because someone has died."

  

Many lives could be saved with this shift in approach from the NHS

More than 4,400 Britons have their lives saved or improved by an organ transplant during 2014/15 - but the number of people that donated organs has fallen for the first time in 11 years, according to the NHS.

Despite this, there was five per cent decrease on the previous year and it meant that 224 fewer people received an organ transplant.