ORGANS are desperately needed to gift new life to Bradford people on the UK’s transplant waiting list.

There are already 132,539 people with a BD postcode on the register but more are needed to help fill the organ shortage, said Dr Paul Stonelake, intensive care consultant and joint organ donation clinical lead at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

He also stressed that people who sign up need to make sure their loved ones know about their donation wishes so they can be fulfilled after they die.

"All too often, people don’t have these conversations and so their wishes aren’t fulfilled after they die," said Dr Stonelake.

"If you are one of the 132,539 people across the district who are on the register, please make sure you speak to your family and friends, just in case they are ever in the difficult position of being asked to consent to donating your organs.”

Dr Stonelake said there was a desperate shortage of organ donors, not only in Bradford but across the whole Yorkshire region and country.

Last year 58 people in Bradford received major organ transplants.

There are 84 people still waiting for their chance of a new life, including those temporarily off the list because of illness, is made up of 66 kidney patients, five people waiting on a double kidney and or pancreas transplant, six people waiting for a new heart and seven people need a liver.

Jenny Hughes, who is the new specialist nurse for organ donation at Bradford Royal Infirmary and is responsible for approaching the families of potential donors, said: "Nationally, three people die every day in need of a transplant because not enough organs are available.

"Yet many families still say no to organ donation. In my experience, this is often because they were unaware of their loved one’s decision around organ donation and find it a difficult decision to make on their loved one’s behalf.

"We need to get to the point where organ donation is high on the list of important personal conversations we routinely have with loved ones."

One donor can save or transform up to nine lives and many more can be helped through tissue donation. There is no age limit for donating and very few medical conditions exclude people from being able to donate.

To join the Organ Donation register, visit organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.