According to the latest figures from UK Transplant in Bristol, South West donation rates are almost 50% higher than the national average.

The South West Transplant Centre - based at Derriford in Plymouth - carried out 42 operations between April 2003 and March this year.

That is compared with 36 in the previous year.

Chronic shortage

That meant 29% of patients waiting for transplants could have them.

Nationally, the number of organ transplants was the highest for seven years, at 2,854.

Sue Sutherland, chief executive of NHS UK Transplant said: "Overall the picture is encouraging.

"The decline in transplant rates has been halted, more transplants are being carried out and more patients are benefiting, but there is no room for complacency.

"There is still a chronic shortage of donated organs. We know that many relatives say no to organ donation simply because they do not know what their loved one would have wanted.

"More lives could be saved if only more people talked with their friends and families about whether they wanted to donate organs or tissue after their death and to register their wishes on the NHS Organ Donor Register."