THE Welsh Government’s plans for changes in organ and tissue donation legislation moved a step closer yesterday following a public consultation.

Results from a 12-week consultation on a proposed change to be able to opt out in Wales showed out of 1,234 respondents, 646 backed the plans.

The change, known as a soft opt-out system, would mean the removal and use of organs after a person’s death would be allowed unless that person had registered an objection during their lifetime.

A total of 478 people opposed the move during the consultation, backing the current system in which a person must indicate their wishes by carrying a donor card or by telling relatives that, in the event of their death, they wish to donate organs.

Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said the contributions made during the consultation, which ran from November 7 to January 31, would now be considered to develop a draft bill, which is intended to be published for consultation before the summer.

The aim is for the new system, which will be the first of its kind in the UK, to be in place in 2015.

Ms Griffiths said, on average, one person a week in Wales dies while waiting for a transplant because a suitable donor cannot be found.

She said: “I am very pleased with the excellent number of responses to the consultation on this important piece of legislation which will save lives.

“The Welsh Government is committed to introducing a soft opt-out system of organ donation which, evidence suggests, could increase the number of organ donations by up to 25 per cent.”

Move ‘will give hope’

GWENT residents who have benefited from organ donations called the news a “move in the right direction”.

Sara Griffiths, 49, of Raglan, who received a kidney transplant in 1995 after spending three-and-a-half years on dialysis had a pancreas transplant in 2007, said: “I think this will give hope to a lot of people who are on the transplant waiting list and who are suffering.

“It is definitely a move in the right direction. I just hope and pray it will now come to fruition.”

For Trinant couple Mike and Jean Edmunds, Monday will mark five years since Mrs Edmunds gave her husband the gift of life by donating a kidney to him.

She said: “People will still have the option to opt out. This could open a whole new life for people.”