'I've been waiting years for a kidney transplant'

Nearly 1,400 people in London are waiting for a life‑saving organ transplant, according to the latest figures, yet the capital has the lowest rate of registered organ donors in the country.

Only around a third of Londoners, 32%, have formally recorded an organ donation decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

In the past year alone, 68 people in Greater London died while waiting for an organ transplant. Over the past decade, the figure has reached 808.

In London, just 52% of families approached supported organ donation going ahead, the second lowest consent rate in England.

Although the law now assumes people are willing to donate their organs unless they opt out, families are still asked for consent at the time of death and make the final decision on whether any donation proceeds.

Health officials say registering a decision is crucial, as families are far more likely to agree to a donation when they know their loved one's wishes.

Jaswinder Dev, 59, a mother of four, is among the nearly 1,400 people waiting for a life‑saving organ transplant.

She was added to the lung transplant list in May 2022 after her rare lung disease, pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE), became severe.

"I've been coughing for 29 years now – it started off light but in 2022 I was listed for a transplant because of how severe my condition had become," she said.

Now dependent on supplemental oxygen, she says her independence has been greatly reduced. "Even simple things like cooking are difficult. I can't travel far from home and I get out of breath trying to vacuum the living room."

Doctors say that, after four years of waiting, her condition has deteriorated so far that only a single lung transplant is now possible.

"My greatest fear is being taken off the transplant list because the disease has progressed too far and it'll be too late," she said.

Edmund Clottey, 52, from Lambeth, has been waiting for a kidney transplant since September 2021.

He said: "I was told I could expect to wait 18 to 24 months for an organ to become available for me and I'm now approaching five years. It's hard, especially now I'm on dialysis.

"I go for dialysis three times a week and it takes a day to recover from each session, so that leaves just one day a week where I feel somewhat myself.

"I just get on with it but it does bother me. I want to go out, do things, see friends, but I'm exhausted."

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