Patients are waiting longer than ever to receive organ transplants in Scotland because of a lack of donors.

The average waiting time has grown from 18 months to three years over the last decade.

It has also emerged that the number of people on the organ donor register also varies wildly across the country - from 24% in Fife to just 1% in the Western Isles.

Crash victims

The annual National Transplant Week is being launched on Friday at a time when the need to raise awareness about organ donation is greater than ever.

A decade ago a large proportion of donated organs came from car crash victims.

However, seatbelts, drink-driving campaigns and traffic calming measures like speed bumps have led to one of the lowest road death rates in the world.

The number of available organs falls by about 3% every year, but the number of people in need of a transplant is increasing by the same level.

Lowest figure

The 550 people currently on the waiting list for organs will wait two-and-a-half to three years for a donor.

Some of those people will die waiting.

Fife, Tayside and Lothian have the highest rates of organ donation in Scotland, while the figure for the Western Isles is one of the lowest in the UK.

Last July transplant charities and the Scottish Executive launched a campaign aimed at encouraging more people to carry donor cards.