IMPORTANT organ donation messages have been painted on four buses in a bid to encourage people to think about joining the organ donation register.

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has commissioned the buses as part on a year-long “on the buses” campaign, which is supported by NHS Blood & Transplant which contributed the artwork for the campaign.

Trust staff have already been sharing tweets about where they have seen the buses, which are travelling routes around the trust’s four hospitals – Royal Oldham, North Manchester, Fairfield, and Rochdale Infirmary.

The trust’s organ donation committee came up with the idea to use buses because they reach a wide and diverse audience, including bus passengers, drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

Keely Hart, specialist nurse for organ donation at the trust said: “We want people to see our bus adverts and start a conversation with their relatives and loved ones about organ donation and what their wishes would be.

“Sharing your wishes with your family now will protect them from having to make a choice they aren’t sure of in the future.

“You can also record that decision to help others by joining the organ donor register.

“It is simple and only takes two minutes to do, and you could help save the lives of up to nine other people.”

In Greater Manchester there are 531 people waiting for a transplant and there are 887,649 people on the NHS organ donor register. In Oldham there are 43 people waiting for a transplant and there are 64,237 people on the register.

In Greater Manchester, 36 people died last year on the transplant waiting list.

This includes a case where a patient was removed from the transplant list due to deterioration and then died within a year.

Right now across the UK, there are around 6,400 people in need of a transplant, including around 150 children and teenagers.

On average three people die every day in need of a donated organ because there just aren’t enough donors.

Joining the register can be done online at organdonation.nhs.uk.

It only takes a few minutes to register and remember to tell family members of the decision.