MORE than 40 people are waiting for organ transplants in the York postcode area, the Evening Press can reveal today.

Transplant chiefs appealed for more people in York and North Yorkshire to sign the organ donor register.

Despite the selflessness of organ donors such as Cath Dunphy, of York, who featured in the Evening Press on Friday after saving the lives of five people following her own death, more than 6,000 people in the UK are waiting for a transplant.

Although nine out of ten people say they support organ donation, only one-fifth actually put their names on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

In the YO postcode area, 40 people are waiting for a kidney transplant. Two are waiting for a kidney and pancreas transplant, one for a heart, and two for lung transplants.

A further ten people have been suspended from the list, either because they are too ill to undergo the operation or because they are away on holiday.

Maxine Walter, of UK Transplant, said without the vital declaration of intent, relatives were reluctant to agree to donate their loved one's organs.

"The relative refusal rate is 40 per cent, which although it is lower than recent years, is still higher than we would like," she said.

"The most important thing is that after putting your name on the organ donor register you actually discuss it with your family so they are aware of what your wishes are.

"It is extremely important to make your wishes known."

Fewer people are being killed in road accidents, and most donors tend to have suffered inter-cerebral haemorrhage, are older and likely to have vascular disease.

Professor John Dark, head of the heart and lung transplant programme at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, said the shortage of organs meant that only three heart transplants per million people could be performed every year, when it should be ten or 15.

Maxine said: "We really need more people to think about what will happen if they find themselves in a position where their organs could be donated and if they sign up to the register to discuss it with their loved ones."

After death your heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver, small bowel, cornea, bone, bone marrow and tissue such as skin, heart valves and tendons can be donated.

In life, you can donate a kidney, liver lobe and lung lobe, blood and bone marrow.

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register, phone the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400 or visit www. uktransplant.org.uk.

To join the bone barrow register you must be aged between 18 and 40. Phone 0901 882234 or log on to www.anthonynolan.org.uk.

To find out where to donate blood, phone the National Donor Helpline on 0845 7711 711 or log on to www.blood.co.uk.

As part of the DoNation season, a five-part series called Life On The List will be screened on the BBC on August 22. Log on to www.bbc.co.uk/donation.

Updated: 10:21 Tuesday, August 16, 2005