Senior transplant specialists today called for steps to increase public awareness of organ donation for World Kidney Day.
A public survey, conducted for the British Transplantation Society, finds that knowledge of donation is waning among the public.
The survey found that only 8% of people were totally against donating their organs after death.
And just 3% said they would never accept an organ transplant.
In spite of that just 35% were on the organ donor register.
Currently some 7,413 people in the UK are on organ donor lists. The society says the government has cut spending on promoting donation by 80%.
Society president Professor Chris Watson, of Cambridge University, said: “Between 2011 and 2012, 508 people died while waiting for an organ to become available. This highlights the huge unmet need we have for donors in the UK.
"That half of those surveyed don’t even know how to sign up to the Organ Donor register must act as a wake up call to Government.
"We are not blind to the fact that budgets are tight and spending cuts have to be made, but the human cost of doing nothing to address this lack of awareness is just too great."
* Meanwhile a new European steering group on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease was announced.
The disease is thought to affect more than 700,000 people and the new group is set to campaign for more awareness and government backing.
* And the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence marked the day with new guidelines on kidney disease.
This included draft guidance on treating acute renal failure and guidance on managing hyperphosphataemia in chronic kidney disease.
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