A report which identified Glasgow as having the lowest rates of kidney donations in the UK has been described as out-of-date and "deeply unhelpful and disruptive" by the health board representing the city.
The study, by Cambridge University and NHS Blood and Transplant, published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, found that Glasgow had a donation rate of 3.2%.
This was based on the 27,482 patients who died in critical care in the UK between April 2010 and December 2011.
Of these people, 1,528, or 5.5%, became kidney donors.
But the researchers found ''significant variations'' from the average rate in different parts of the country, with ''significantly lower'' donation rates in Glasgow and Manchester, at 3.2% and 4.5% respectively, compared with "significantly higher" rates in Cardiff and Cambridge, at 7.5% and 7% respectively.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the data was out-of-date and did not reflect the current status of kidney donation within Glasgow.
Marc Clancy, consultant transplant surgeon and lead director for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Transplantation, said: "At a most basic level the report is misleading in that it refers to data drawn from intensive care units from across the whole of the west of Scotland as being 'Glasgow' specific.
"However of greater concern is the fact that the data, drawn from a single point in time more than two years ago, fails to reflect the significant increase in donor rates that has been achieved across the west of Scotland - from ICUs from Dumfries to Fort William - over the past two years.
"Furthermore the figures quoted in the report are in no way whatsoever a reflection of the West of Scotland Renal Transplant Unit based in Glasgow which has increased transplant numbers way above most other UK transplant units."
He added: "Given the vast increase in donation rates achieved in Scotland in the past two years, the publication of this out-of-date report is deeply unhelpful and disruptive to those who have worked tirelessly to drive donation rates up to unprecedented levels in Scotland."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article