The mother of a student nurse who died waiting for an organ transplant has welcomed proposals to change the current system of donor consent.

Anita Hamilton has moved closer to victory in her campaign to save lives.

The mother of Laura Hamilton, who died waiting for a second liver transplant days before her 21st birthday last August, has spent the past five months campaigning to include everyone in a new organ register unless they choose to opt out.

Her pleas were answered at the weekend when the Government's chief medical officer recommended implementing a system similar to that which Mrs Hamilton proposed.

A report to be published this week suggests every major hospital must have an organ donor specialist skilled in persuading grieving families that the vital organs of deceased relatives should be used to save the lives of others.

Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, is expected to go further and seek a new system of donation because the shortage of organs is so severe.

He is proposing a procedure of "presumed consent", where everyone in Britain is presumed to be a donor unless they have specifically opted out or their families have objections.

Laura Hamilton was born with liver disease but made a remarkable recovery after she received a liver transplant at 18 months.

She worked tirelessly to raise money for the health services who helped her live a full life.

After she died, her mother began her campaign, setting up lobbying group Give2Live so that her daughter's death would not be in vain.

Mrs Hamilton, of Broadrig Avenue, Hove, said: "It's tinged with sadness because this scheme comes months after Laura died, but it's very positive and we're very pleased.

"The campaign work has really helped me to cope with Laura's death. I think Laura would be pleased to know something like this has happened.

"We hoped this would come, but even if it changes tomorrow, which would be fantastic, it's going to take time to implement.

"In the meantime, people are still suffering. Therefore, we want to encourage people to continue to sign up to the donor register until it changes.

"We've been overwhelmed by the support Brighton and Hove residents have shown. They've been fantastic and we hope this continues now."

Mrs Hamilton has held stalls in shopping centres, and her efforts have resulted in more than 4,000 people from Brighton and Hove registering as donors since September.

She has also gathered about 1,000 names for a petition to go to Downing Street.

Britain has one of the lowest rates of organ donation in Europe.

More than 1,000 patients die on the waiting list every year.

jessica.bauldry@theargus.co.uk

Do you back Mrs Hamilton's proposal? Tell us below