THERE are currently more than 8,000 people waiting for organ transplants in the UK - a figure which rises by about 8% a year.

In all TA postcodes, which cover nearly 100,000 residents in the Taunton, Wellington, Bridgwater and West Somerset areas, 29 people are currently waiting for a kidney transplant, and one each for liver and pancreas transplants.

In the last five years there have been a total of 124 transplants while seven people have died waiting for an operation on the waiting list.

Given this background the UK Transplant service this week thanked Prime Minister Gordon Brown for bringing the question of transplants into the public eye by lending his backing to "presumed consent."

As part of the National Health Service, UK Transplant are obliged to carry out Government policy, whether or not the system is changed.

But spokesman John Oliver said this week: "Anything that highlights the problem of organ donation has to be a good thing. However, the choice of system, whether we go for presumed or not, is not the key issue.

"Family consent would still be needed if we changed the system and the biggest stumbling block is that people is that people don't discuss the issue enough.

"The most important thing is to tell our family and our friends what we want to do in the case of our death."