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Saving Lives, Valuing Donors: A Transplant Framework for England - One Year On

  • Last modified date:
    8 February 2007

In July 2003 the Government launched Saving Lives Valuing Donors, a ten-year framework that set out actions that the Government and UK Transplant would take to encourage people to donate organs and tissues,

namely to:

  • raise the quality and effectiveness of transplant services
  • improve the clinical outcomes and quality of life of people who receive the gift of an organ or tissue
  • increase the supply of viable organs and tissues for transplantation
  • accredit all tissue banks to ensure high-quality tissues for transplantation.

Saving Lives, Valuing Donors: One Year On describes the progress made by the Government and UKT since the launch of the framework last July. The key successes in 2003/ 04 include:

  • 2,867 transplants carried out - the highest number of organ transplants ever performed - thanks to the generosity of 1,240 donors.
  • Organs from 772 people who died were used to save or dramatically improve many people's lives through 2,396 transplants
  • The highest number of patients for fourteen years received a kidney-only transplant with living donation now representing one in four of all kidney-only transplants
  • A further 2,365 people had their sight restored through a cornea transplant - the highest number for seven years
  • A 20% increase in non-heartbeating donation meant that more people than ever received a transplant from these donors
  • 147 people received lung-only transplants, the highest number ever

More than 800,000 people added their names to the NHS Organ Donor Register.

The report also details the steps that we plan to take next year to address the challenges that remain.

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