A GOVERNMENT task force rejected plans for a “presumed consent” organ donation scheme after studying Bolton’s success in increasing donor rates.

The Organ Donation Task Force produced a report for ministers rejecting a system where there would be automatic organ donation, unless people chose to opt out.

And it cited Bolton as an example of success in increasing organ donation without the need for changing the law.

Royal Bolton Hospital’s Bereavement and Donor Team has also been hailed as an “incredible” example for the rest of the NHS at a prestigious awards ceremony.

The Organ Donation Task Force heard evidence from Fiona Murphy, team leader of the bereavement and donor team, about the work going on in Bolton.

She said: “We approach the issue of organ donation as a normal part of end-of-life family care.

“It is important to give the family some control and to give them choices.

“Things like this should be tried first, with health care professionals and the public working together, rather than an automatic system.”

The report’s conclusion states: “The Task Force has been encouraged by the successes achieved by innovative practice. Examples include Royal Bolton Hospital, a 100 per cent referral rate has been achieved by ensuring donation is considered as a routine part of end -of-life care.”

Bolton’s involvement in the task force study came as the team won praise from judges in The Nursing Times magazine awards, where it was highly commended in the team of the year category for improving the number of organs donated.

There are more than 85,000 people living in the Bolton postcode area on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Eighty-one people in Bolton are waiting for a transplant — 69 need a kidney, three need a kidney and a pancreas, four need lungs, four need livers and one person needs a heart and a lung.

Three died waiting for organs between April, 2007, and March, 2008, with two dying since April.

Thirteen people have benefitted from organ transplants since April.