In 2002 nearly 400 people died in the UK waiting for a transplant

Originally a Spanish idea, liaison teams are being set up in hospitals to identify potential donors, and ask relatives to allow their organs to be donated.

UK Transplant, based in Bristol, says 30 teams are currently in place, including one at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital.

More than 100 hospitals in Spain run the scheme, and the country now carries out the highest number of transplants in the world.

Register

Under the scheme, organs are referred to the central control room of the national transplant organisation and if there are no emergency cases, the hospital can use them on non-urgent cases.

Spanish experts have visited Bristol to help set up the scheme.

UK Transplant has recently called for more people to register as organ donors.

A survey showed that although many people support organ donation, less than one in six have actually joined the national register.