00:00Firstly, just tell me a little bit about organ donation in the South West.
00:07So organ donation in the South West, our organ donation numbers remain high for our region.
00:15So last year we facilitated 139 preceding organ donors.
00:21It was down slightly from the year before, but it again, the number in the South West
00:27is high, but that's not the view of how things are nationally.
00:34Nationally, our numbers are down and they continue to be down ever since COVID.
00:40Before COVID, our numbers were much, much healthier and our consent rates were much higher.
00:45So our consent rates pre-COVID were 69%, whereas since COVID last year was suddenly sitting
00:53around 59%.
00:55So that's over 40% of families who we approach and discuss organ donation with are not supportive
01:02of organ donation.
01:03And that is having an impact nationally on the number of preceding organ donors.
01:09Tell me a little bit about this impact then.
01:13So because we have less preceding donors, we are therefore unable to facilitate as many
01:20organ transplants that are needed and that therefore is resulting in an increased organ transplant
01:27waiting list.
01:29So it's now over 8,000, which is the first time it's been over that, which means that nationally
01:35there's 8,000 people who are in need of an organ transplant.
01:40And this is just not life enhancing operation.
01:43This is a life saving operation that they are in need of.
01:47And unfortunately, some of them are running out of time.
01:49They are getting too sick for transplants and therefore removed from the transplant waiting
01:55list because they're running out of time due to this organ donation, organ shortage.
02:00So it's a pretty, pretty difficult situation that we are finding ourselves in.
02:07And then the impact on those who don't get organs, what is that?
02:12Well, the impact for those who don't get organs unfortunately lead to death.
02:20They run out of time.
02:21They're on the transplant waiting list for a reason.
02:23They're on the transplant waiting list because they have organ failure.
02:29And sometimes that becomes end stage organ failure and they become too unwell for transplant
02:34or they just run out of time and unfortunately pass away.
02:38And three people die every day waiting for a transplant.
02:41So the numbers are quite startling, but it all begins with organ donation and those conversations
02:49we have with families.
02:5152% of the population are on the organ donor register in the Southwest.
02:56So we know what they would have wanted.
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