Calls for changes to lung donation system

A national charity is calling for changes to prevent fewer people dying from cystic fibrosis.

The Cystic Fibrosis Trust says one in three people with the condition die while they are on the lung donation waiting list. The organisation is making a series of recommendations which it hopes would improve that statistic.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disorder. People with it produce a mucus which makes it difficult to breath and eat. The disease is controlled with a combination of drugs, physiotherapy, oxygen and other treatments. However, for some people, a lung transplant becomes their only chance of survival.

At the moment, lungs donated for transplant are allocated on a regional basis. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust wants to end this system, and replace it with a national list, so lungs can be given to the highest priority patients, wherever they are in the country.

Vicky Pettersen from Redcar had a lung transplant fifteen years ago. She describes herself, at that time, as 'completely dependent on oxygen'. Vicky also had a young son.

Among the other recommendations from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust: standardisation of transplant surgery across England so all centres have the same level of skills and experience, as well as changes to organ donation law to a system of presumed consent.

The Department of Health has responded to the charity's report.

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