Only one in five people in Slough have signed up to the organ donation register, one of the lowest rates in the UK.

Six people have died in the town while waiting for an organ in the last five years. There are currently around 15 people on the waiting list.

In Windsor and Maidenhead more than 60 per cent of people have not signed up to the organ donation register. Around 10 people in that borough are awaiting transplants.

The figures have been released by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) to mark Organ Donation Week.

NHSBT says the failure of prospective donors to sign the register or inform their families of their wishes is posing an obstacle to life-saving transplants going ahead.

This ‘fatal complacency’ means that a family may refuse to give their consent even if their loved one was happy for their organs to be used.

Almost 40 per cent of people in the UK - around 25.5 million people - were on the register as of the first quarter of 2018.

According to NHSBT, a number of demographic factors could influence the proportion of people on the register in any given area, such as race, religion and age.

Black and Asian people are disproportionately likely to die while waiting for an organ because of a lack of donors from the same ethnic background, who are more likely to be a close match.

Research undertaken by the organisation shows people from ethnic minorities are less likely to talk about donation, while some religious people may have concerns surrounding burial practices.

Anthony Clarkson, interim director of organ donation and transplantation at NHSBT, said: “We don’t want people to die because of a fatal complacency - that because you know you want to be an organ donor you presume your loved ones know it too.

“People are living moment to moment, in desperate need of someone saying ‘yes’ to donation.

“The harsh fact is that people are dying right now waiting for an organ.”