IT IS an issue which many of us think about, but thinking about it isn’t enough.

Every year calls are made by campaigners to get more people on to the organ donor register in the hope that the life of a seriously ill person can be saved.

In England people must place themselves onto the organ donor register and tell their family their wishes if they want to pass on their organs to anyone else.

It means that the register relies on people making that extra step if they want to help others – a system which many people think is flawed.

Earlier this year the Daily Echo ran a campaign – Seven Weeks To Say I Donate – in a bid to get more people to sign up to the organ donor register and back then there were calls for the government to introduce an “opt out” system.

This week a landmark new law on organ donors came into effect in Wales.

Everyone over the age of 18 will now have to “opt out” if they don’t want their organs and tissue to be passed on to others.

The Welsh Government predicts the new law could increase the number of organ donors by as much as a quarter.

It means that people in England and Scotland can benefit from those in Wales and means that the recipients have a greater chance of finding a match.

According to the latest figures, 1,000 people in the UK die every year while waiting for a transplant.

Among those welcoming the new law in Wales is the British Heart Foundation (BHF) which says the rest of the country should follow suit.

BHF chief executive Simon Gillespie said organ donation rates in the UK are 40 per cent lower compared with other countries in Europe that already use the opt-out system such as Spain and Croatia.

"Sadly hundreds of people die every year waiting for a transplant because there is a desperate shortage of organ donors," he added.

"Other European countries that already use an opt-out system have much higher donor rates than the UK.

"We campaigned strongly in Wales to introduce soft opt-out and now it’s time for the rest of the UK to follow their lead."

But critics have questioned the changes in law saying it could turn “volunteers into conscripts”.

Conservative MP Royston Smith, who previously urged people to sign up to the organ donor register admitted that he “felt a shudder” when he heard that the changes had been made.

Days before he heard the news he was speaking to nurses about whether his late father’s organs and tissue could be donated.

“The conversation was all very compassionate and sensitive and well done and the checks and balances were there,” he said.

“Then I heard about the news in Wales. The moment I heard I just felt a little shudder. I just thought ‘I’m not keen on that’.”

For the Southampton Itchen MP, who is on the organ donor register, he felt that it could lead to a loss of personal freedom.

He said: “There’s a thing that I’m uncomfortable with, that the state says we will own that part of you unless you tell us otherwise. I’m just not quite happy with that.”

While he still wants people to donate organs, blood and tissue he didn’t like the idea of the state taking the organ unless stated otherwise.

Trevor Jackson was one of those who received a heart transplant 20 years ago but remembers his mother-in-law being opposed to organ transplants, especially hearts.

“I presume it was because she was of an older generation,” he said when asked why.

“I think it was because, the heart especially, it was to do with love. That’s where it comes from. That’s what they thought, I suppose. To take someone’s heart away is to take away part of them.”

But NHS Blood and Transplant said that while the changes in law have come into effect in Wales, it doesn’t mean that people still won’t have the chance not to have their organs donated.

“Specialist nurses will continue to support families throughout the organ donation process, making sure they have all the information and help they need.

“The first step when a potential donor is identified will continue to be to check whether that person had registered a decision on being on organ donor on the NHS Organ Donor Register or registered an appointed representative.

“If not, families will be asked if their loved one made a decision in life or appointed someone to make the decision for them after their death.”

Previously Dr Barry Morgan, archbishop of Wales said: Dr Morgan said: “Organ donation surely ought to be a matter of gift and not of duty.

“Giving organs is the most generous act of self-giving imaginable but it has to be a choice that is freely embraced, not something that the state assumes.

“Put more crudely, it can turn volunteers into conscripts.

“I think that compromises individual rights and freedoms and poses the moral question as to whether the state can make such decisions.”

The change in law in Wales means that if no decision has been taken in any of these ways, if the criteria apply, consent for organ donation can deemed.

Even in circumstances where deemed consent can be applied, specialist nurses will support families when there is potential for donation.

The spokesman for NHS BT said: “The expectation is that families will support donation unless they have evidence that their relative chose not to be a donor.

“Our experience shows that the majority of families respect the decision of their relative to be a donor.

“They will be encouraged to respect the decision made by their relative, however, if a family feel very strongly that donation should not take place the situation will be considered on a case by case basis.”

During the course of the interview with the Daily Echo, Mr Smith’s stance on this issue changed.

While his views were initially the same as Dr Morgan’s he realised that the process would be the same.

He said: “I don’t think it will make a difference I think the conversation will be slightly different. There has to be a conversation.

“I think the outcome will be the same.”

But he worried that people would be judged for saying no and said that “people should always respect that decision”.

But he and NHS BT said that the most important thing was that people had conversations with their families.

Sally Johnson, NHS Blood and Transplant’s director of organ donation and transplantation, said: “We urgently need more people to say yes to organ donation.

“Across the UK there is a shortage of organ donors and in order to save more lives it is vital more people talk about donation and commit to being an organ donor.

“The changes in Wales does not remove the need for organ donation conversations. Donation is much more likely if people have thought about organ donation in life and discussed their decision with their family. We urge people to have the conversation today.”

Visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk to find out more information about signing up to the organ donor register.