CALLS have been made for more living kidney donations after a 'worrying decline'.

Health bosses have warned of the decrease in living kidney donations in Lancashire as new national figures hit an eight-year low.

In Lancashire, there were only 21 living kidney donors in 2017, compared to 30 in 2013.

There are currently 107 people waiting for a kidney in Lancashire and 44 people from the county have died on the transplant waiting list waiting for a kidney in the last five years.

Nationally, there were 990 living kidney donors during 2017, a 10 per cent decline on the highest ever year, 2013, and the lowest figure since 2009.

The figures were released for World Kidney Day earlier this week with an appeal for more people to consider making a life-transforming donation while they are still alive.

Lisa Burnapp, NHS blood and transplant lead nurse for kidney donation, said: “Last year, 261 people died in the UK waiting for a kidney transplant, and many of those lives could have been saved through increased living kidney donation.

“Living donation has been a major success story for the UK, with one in three patients receiving a kidney transplant from a living donor, so the decline in Lancashire and around the UK is worrying.

In the UK living kidney transplants have been performed since 1960.