Last weekend, i wrote a status on my facebook saying, "more awareness is needed teaching the basics of transplantation and organ donation. the lack of knowledge in the general public is improving but it is still not where it needs to be"
I said this because i had just been commenting on a status where someone shared there opinion and others where throwing in their two pennies worth but there was so many wrong "facts" being thrown about and i couldn't sit back and watch these people mould their opinion and views around things that simply are not true or the way things are.
So i stepped in and corrected them on things, i wasn't aiming to change anybody's opinion but just wanted them to know how things actually are.
I don't know everything there is to know about transplant and organ donation myself but i knew enough to point these people in the right direction.
The biggest misconception that i somehow couldn't get them to understand was that CURRENTLY there is no "priority" when allocating lungs to people on the NHS active transplant list.
I don't know every single thing it goes off but i do know that depending on where you are at the time the call comes in determines whether you are to have the donor lungs or not. The closer you live to your transplant centre, the higher your chances of a call are. This Might mean that some poorlier patients are missing out on an opportunity they're in desperate need for just because they live further away than someone of the same blood group and size etc.
This is why the Cystic Fibrosis Trust is asking the public to take part in a campaign calling for a fair national allocation system for lung transplants. Hopefully it will allow people on the waiting list for new lungs to be treated purely according to their need, no matter where they live in the UK or how far the hospital is.
Due to there being no national lung allocation system, lungs are immediately first allocated to the closest transplant centre and in some cases this isn't the individual who needs it most at the specific time. So the CF Trust want everyone to follow a link, join the campaign and help to raise this to the government.
I think the link is worth a look and you can make your own mind up on the matter.
http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/news/latest-news/transplant-report.aspx
Once you've read through the page, there's another link you can click on that says, JOIN THE CAMPAIGN.
you can then send an automated email to your local MP. You can add your personal touch or story to the email or you can fill your name & address out in a form and click send to send an automated email written by the CF Trust. Easy Peasy!
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