SIGN UP TO SAVE A LIFE!

All readers should have received an organ donor form In a recent mail-out from Wirral Council and the Globe is asking that you fill it in and return it as soon as possible.

Hundreds of lives may be saved thanks to the Wirral Globe and Wirral Council blood and organ donor initiative.

The Globe contacted the council last year to ask if it could send registration forms for organ donation out with council documents.

After investigating the idea the borough is now sending out forms with its 'Best Value Performance' summary and council tax bills.

Council leader Cllr Steve Foulkes says: "Everyone in Wirral has the chance to do something amazing today. Each one of us can sign up to help someone else once our own life is over. I think that is a wonderful thing to do.

"If one life can be saved because of the initiative by the Wirral Globe in conjunction with the borough council then the whole exercise will have been worthwhile."

In a similar scheme in Taunton, 11,500 people signed up which was one in every 6.5 voters. If a similar percentage of the Wirral electorate was to sign up, it would mean an extra 14,800 people would be registered as organ donors.

There are currently more than 5,000 people waiting for organ transplants, although this figure does not reflect the actual need as people are often only listed if they have a reasonable chance of receiving a donated organ.

The situation is so bad that the BMA has recently called for an 'opt-out' system where people would have to request that their organs are not used for transplant.