The NHS is appealing for one million more people to join the organ donor register by the start of 2027, in a bid to reverse a decline in family consent for donations. The call is backed by Ashleigh Tucker, 26, from Coventry, whose life was saved by a heart transplant in May.
Ashleigh's story
Ashleigh developed dilated cardiomyopathy after suffering from pneumonia as a baby, which caused her heart muscle to thicken over time, leaving her breathless and exhausted. In November 2021, after being hospitalised with bronchitis, she was told she was in heart failure.
She said: “Hearing those words changes everything. The last few years were up and down. Some days just getting out of bed left me gasping. I tried rehab and new meds. I was in and out of hospital with chest pain and suspected myocarditis. It felt like every time I tried to get back on my feet; something knocked me back down.”
Ashleigh joined the transplant waiting list last summer and received a call in May to say a heart was available. The organ had been intended for another patient who was too sick for surgery. She said: “Because it was fast‑track, they needed someone close by, and they thought I was a match. I went completely blank. I couldn’t speak. I was shaking. It didn’t feel real.”
Surgery and recovery
The transplant went ahead after extra checks, and the surgery was successful. Ashleigh is still recovering and due to start cardiac rehabilitation soon. She said: “I don’t think there are enough words for what donation really means to us as a family. It’s a crazy situation — the hardest thing a family will ever face — and somehow it still becomes a lifeline for someone else. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough.”
Declining family consent
England has an opt-out system for organ donation, but families are still consulted. Family consent or authorisation for donations across the UK has dropped from 69% in 2020/21 to 57% in 2025/26. Almost 90% of families support donation when they know their loved one wanted to be a donor and had registered, according to NHS Blood and Transplant. That figure drops to less than 50% when the deceased person’s wishes are unknown.
Almost 29 million people in the UK have recorded their decision by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register. Anthony Clarkson, NHSBT’s director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation, said: “Family support for organ donation has been in steady decline over the last few years, and we need to reverse that trend. That’s why we are asking people in the UK to be ‘One in a Million’ and drive up the number of people on the NHS Organ Donor Register to 30 million by the start of 2027.”
He added: “It gives your family that certainty that you want donation to go ahead and it’s expected that they honour that decision. I would urge people who haven’t already done so to express your decision to donate via the Organ Donor Register and for families to remember that decision and honour it should the time come. It’s the final act you can do for them to honour their memory and leave a lasting legacy to be proud of.”
