Transplant Recipients

Apart from kidney transplants which are carried out at Belfast City Hospital and corneal transplants at Royal Victoria Hospital, all other types of organ transplants are carried out in England or Scotland. This is because the population of N. Ireland is too small to sustain a transplant unit.

Being away from home can cause extra trauma as people are distanced from the support of visits by family and friends.

Exact figures are hard to obtain, but currently there are on average 6-10 heart and 6-10 liver and a few lung, heart/lung or rare multiple organ transplants carried out on N. Ireland residents every year.

At any one time there are a total of approximately 200 in N.Ireland waiting for organ transplantation (including kidney transplants). Due to a chronic shortage of donated organs, people often have to wait an unacceptably long period of time, with a third to a half dying before they can have their transplant.

The great news is that more and more people are signing the Organ Donor Register and this year for the first time, the number of people on the register in the UK has reached 18 million. In Northern Ireland, around 28% of the population have signed up, which is just under the UK average, but a long way behind the amazing 37% of Scottish residents on the register.