Praise as almost 40% in Hartlepool sign donor register - but hospital chiefs say more are still needed

Figures released as part of National Organ Donor week, which runs until Sunday, show in Hartlepool 36,386 people are registered as organ donors.

This equates to 39% of the population, which is the joint highest in the Tees Valley along with Darlington.

However as of May, 10 people remain on the transplant waiting list.

According to the NHS, last year 36% of the UK’s population was on the NHS Organ Donor Register, compared to 30% five years ago.

Clare Fletcher, specialist nurse for organ donation at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said although figures are positives, more people still need to get involved.

She said: “It is fantastic news that so many people in Hartlepool are registered as organ donors – but we need even more people to take the opportunity to do this.   

“We all need to talk more about organ donation.

“If we want to be a donor, then we need to have that discussion with our partner or families to make them aware of this.

“By doing this we can all help save so many lives needlessly lost.

“Sadly, many opportunities are lost every year because families don’t know if their loved one wanted to be a donor or not.

“We can change things, though we need your support to get people talking.”

By comparison, in Stockton borough 34% of the population are registered as organ donors, with 25 people on the transplant waiting list.

In County Durham, 38% of the population is registered, with 45 people on the list waiting for a transplant.

Meanwhile in Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland 34% and 36% respectively of residents are registered as organ donors, with 5 and 15 people on the transplant waiting list.

The data comes from a map, created by Esri UK, and gathered from an NHS table of organ donor registrations by local authority.

The proportions were calculated from 2017 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Nic Marko , Local Democracy Reporting Service