Black patients face six months wait for organs

As reported by the BBC, black patients wait six months longer on average for organ transplants than the general population, NHS data shows

The best match comes from someone of the same ethnicity – but only two per cent of donors in 2021/22 were black, while black people are four per cent of the population.

Black families are also less likely to agree to organ donation than white families, the figures show.

The NHS says there’s an ‘urgent need’ for more people from ethnic minorities to donate.

The NHS Blood and Transplant report, seen by BBC Radio 1Xtra’s If You Don’t Know podcast ahead of its publication on Thursday, shows that while waiting times have improved for all ethnicities in the UK, black people wait on average 735 days for a kidney.

By comparison, the average waiting time for the general population is 550 days. For Asian people, it is 650 days and 488 days for white people.

Kidney patients make up the majority of people on waiting lists and face some of the longest waits, because transplants need to be matched by blood and tissue type, whereas other organs only need a blood type match. But there are similar disparities in waiting times for other organ transplants.

“Black people wait longer because there’s less people coming forward to give their organs from their ethnic group,” said Winnie Andango from NHS Blood and Transplant.

“During COVID, so many patients were suspended but those have been added back onto the list, and that means if we had less organs for this ethnic minority group we have even less right now.”

The government says it will be announcing extra measures to make the best use of organs ‘so we are saving as many lives as possible’.

Health minister Neil O’Brien said: “We need more people, especially those from black and Asian heritage, to register their organ donation decision and share it with their family so loved ones can follow their wishes.”