BACK in 2010, we launched a campaign urging people in our area to sign up to the national Organ Donor Register.

Our Lifesavers campaign was prompted by the tragic case of 22-year-old Miss York finalist and cystic fibrosis sufferer Emma Young, who died while waiting for a double lung transplant which could have saved her life. Her death prompted us to ask just how many other people in our area were desperately waiting for an organ transplant.

The answer, at the time, was 81 - 81 people waiting for a kidney, heart, liver or lung transplant which could have transformed their lives. Within nine months of us launching our campaign, 10,000 people in our area had signed up for the Organ Donor Register, meaning that, in the event of their death, their organs could be used to help others.

But our campaign went further. We also lobbied for a proper parliamentary debate on whether the register should be operated on an opt-out rather than an opt-in basis - so that people would automatically be presumed to have given consent for their organs to be donated unless they specifically said otherwise.

An opt-out system makes sense. The main reason people don’t sign up for the organ donor register is that they simply never get around to it. Presuming consent could save lives - and drastically reduce the time that people spend on transplant waiting lists.

Now Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson looks set to prompt exactly such a parliamentary debate. His private members Bill calling for an opt-out organ donor system, which is being introduced today, is likely to be fully debated this autumn.

We hope that good sense prevails. Such a system will cost nothing. But it could make a huge difference to the countless people on donor waiting lists.