TRANSPLANT patients in Bolton have given their support to an “opt-out” system of organ donation.

Currently, people must actively sign the Organ Donor Register to become potential life-savers, but in Wales, residents are automatically listed as donors unless they request not to be.

Curtis Jackson, from Harwood, who had a heart tranplant operation in 2010, said: “It is the way to go as it would definitely mean more donors.

“I hope it will give us two or three times more donors than we’ve got now.

“I am so lucky and grateful for the extra life it has given me, but you do wonder if I might have avoided some of the complications I have had if I had got a heart that was perfect for me.”

An online petition has been started by a mother from Kendal whose daughter was waiting three months for a new heart while her life was in danger.

The petition asks the Department of Health to adopt an opt-out system and it has attracted more than 57,000 signatures.

The DoH said it was monitoring the situation in Wales and vowed to work to “give more people the opportunity of a transplant”.

Former teacher Graham Brushett, of Bradshaw Road, Turton, had a kidney and heart transplant in 2006. He said: “It is certainly worth considering doing this as it may move things forward.

“The main challenge will still always be what will families say when they are in that position when somebody has died and the issue of donation comes up.

“I doubt that a piece of legislation will hugely change what people think.”

Bolton hosted the 2014 British Transplant Games in August, with nearly 800 beneficiaries of transplant operations competing in the town.

Latest figures show a quarter of Greater Manchester’s new organ donors this year are from Bolton — with 2,800 from the town signing up.

A DoH spokesman said: “The independent organ donation taskforce examined the case for moving to an opt-out system in 2008.

“They recommended against it, concluding that while such a system might have the potential to deliver benefits, it also carried a significant risk of having the opposite effect and alienating some members of the population. We are waiting to see how the changes in legislation in Wales impact on donations.”