NEW figures show 76 people in Surrey have died while on the waiting list for an organ transplant over the past 10 years.

NHS Blood and Transplant revealed the tragic number of deaths to mark Organ Donation Week this month and is urging people to tell their families they want to become donors.

Hundreds of life-saving transplants are being missed every year because families don’t know what their relative wanted.

Left to make the decision for someone they love, families often decide it is safer to say ‘no’.

The reluctance to talk about the issue is contributing to a deadly shortage of organs.

In Surrey, there are currently 87 people waiting for a transplant. They will only receive that life-changing call if people make sure their families know they want to be a donor.

Anthony Clarkson, assistant director of organ donation and transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “It’s a tragedy that people are dying unnecessarily every year in Surrey waiting for transplants.

“In Surrey there are more than 489,000 people on the NHS organ donor register.

“However if you want to be a donor, your family’s support is still needed for donation to go ahead.

“NHS Blood and Transplant surveys show more than 80 per cent of people support organ donation but only around 49 per cent of people have ever talked about it.

“Research shows that women are 30 per cent more likely to start a conversation about organ donation than men.

“Families who agree to donate say it helps with their grief and that they feel enormous sense of pride at knowing their relative gave others the chance of a new beginning.

“NHS Blood and Transplant wants everyone in Surrey to be able to save lives through organ donation and not be prevented from doing so because they have not told a relative their decision.”