The decision to adopt an opt-out organ donation system could save hundreds of lives, Prime Minister Theresa May claims.
The move, outlined today at the Tory party conference in Manchester, means patients are automatically signed up to be organ donors when they die, and they have to opt-out if they don’t wish to.
English campaigners have long argued for the Government to adopt such a system to increase the number of organs available.
Figures estimate that around 6,500 patients are on the waiting list for an organ that could save their life. Such lists can be as long as five years.
And last year 457 people died in England while waiting for a transplant due to the shortage of organs, NHS data showed.
