YESTERDAY The Bolton News revealed how the town has the second highest number of people in Greater Manchester who have died while waiting for an organ transplant.

In the past 10 years, 44 people on the waiting list for a much-needed transplant have died.

The town currently has 35 people registered for needing a transplant – again the second highest number in Greater Manchester.

However, health bosses believe the numbers are not down to a lack of willing donors – 863,000 people in the county are on the NHS Organ Donor Register – but what happens when the time comes to donate.

NHS Blood and Transplant believes hundreds of life-saving transplants are being missed every year because families do not know what their relative wanted.

For Organ Donation Week, it is urging people to tell their families they want to become donors.

Amy Preston, a specialist nurse in organ donation for the North West, has been in the room when families are told their loved one has agreed to donate their organs.

She said: "The reactions are mixed. Sometimes it is a pleasant surprise to find out they have signed up but sometimes families don't believe it is something their loved one would do.

"You can sign up through the DVLA or registering for a passport and if the family haven't been told sometimes they can believe the person has accidentally signed-up.

"If people have not had the discussion how can we prove it otherwise?

"Culturally we don't talk about death but we need to be having these discussions."

Amy says families can find comfort in a loved one donating, knowing they are helping another person live, while many misconceptions around organ donation have led others to be wary of it.

Among them is the belief that the donor is not receiving the best possible treatment in order to secure their organs.

Amy adds: "Once the doctors have done everything they possibly can to save someone's life and it is not working, that's when we are called.

"We talk with consultants, clinicians and the family while they are preparing end of life care and this is usually when someone is on a ventilator and life support. We are never invited before that point."

There are strict criteria in place in the United Kingdom for the diagnosis of death. Organs are never removed until the patient’s death has been confirmed in line with these criteria.

Death is determined in two ways, either confirmation of brain stem death or circulatory death.

Organ donation is part of the end of life care choice that is discussed with a family and once agreed the process happens very quickly with the recipient being brought into the hospital for the process.

The donor is treated with the utmost care and respect during the removal of organs and/or tissue for donation. Specialist healthcare professionals, from surgeons to nurses, are involved in the process and it is treated like any other surgical procedure and care for a patient.

NHS Blood and Transplant surveys show more than 80 per cent of people support organ donation but only around 49 per cent of people have ever talked about it.

The belief is that when you sign up, or if you have already signed up, talk to family and let them know because when the time comes and your organs may be needed to help save someone, they know you were ready help them.

Bromley Cross dad-of-two Robert Hodgkiss is one of those who has benefited from someone signing up the the register and their family giving it the go-ahead.

He is now a World Transplant Games gold medal winner, but more importantly for him, the donor gave him a chance to be with his family.

He said: "My daughter was nine months old when I went to hospital and was waiting for a heart transplant. I thought I would never see her grow up and each day you are on the waiting list you think this is the day something could happen. I went through a heart attack and stroke and all you want is some good news.

"When I went in for the transplant in Newcastle there were three of us, and one of us didn't make it.

"You have to talk about it and let family and friends know if you register because if that awful situation ever does arise they will know what you wanted to do."

NHS Blood and Transplant wants everyone in Manchester to be able to save lives through organ donation and not be prevented from doing so because they have not told a relative their decision.

To support Organ Donation Week visitwww.nhsbt.nhs.uk.