WALES is set to become the first country in the UK to introduce a revolutionary new system to increase the number of organ donors at midnight tonight.

Midnight on 1 December will see Wales adopt a soft-opt out system where people aged 18 and over who have lived in Wales for more than 12 months and who die in Wales will be regarded as having consented to organ donation unless they have opted out.

The change in the organ donation law could lead to a 25 per cent increase in the number of organ donors.

Those who have been backing the changes were Garndolbenmaen sisters, Llio and Ffion Dudley and Tremadog opera star, Rhys Meirion.

Ffion, 20, underwent keyhole surgery in March this year to donate a healthy kidney to her sister, Llio, 21, who was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis in 2012.

Llio said: “All my family now are on the organ donors list, what has happened to me and Ffion has completely transformed my way of thinking about this, I never use to think about it before and didn’t want to as it made me feel uncomfortable but I now realise it is so important to talk openly about it with your family.

“Me and my sister have been doing our best to raise awareness of the new organ donation law over the last few months and to get people talking about it and we are now pleased to see it come into force this week.”

Rhys has also been actively raising awareness of the organ donation change which was motivated from a personal tragedy his family experienced in 2012 when his sister Elen tragically died. Elen’s organs were donated according to her wishes.

He said: “Thankfully, my family and I are able to take great comfort in knowing that Elen’s wishes were carried out.

“A huge burden was lifted off the family because Elen had discussed her organ donation wishes with her daughter Gwenllian prior to her accident. Through her death Elen was able to bring happiness to other families when her organs went on to transform the lives of five other people.”

Health and social services Minister Mark Drakeford said: “This is a ground-breaking step for Wales, which will save lives.

“The change to a soft-opt out system for organ donation will deliver a revolution in consent. Organ donation saves lives; increasing the rate of organ donation allows us to save more lives.

“That’s the key motivation for this significant change.

“Over the last 20 years a great deal has been achieved in improving medical practice in the field of organ donation but if we’re going to make further progress we need a leap in consent rates and that is why we have changed the law.

“I hope this change will prompt people to talk with their loved ones about their organ donation wishes. We have worked tirelessly to publicise the change and people’s choices under the new system.

"The latest figures show that awareness and understanding has continued to increase and I am satisfied that we have left no stone unturned in our efforts to reach the Welsh public on this issue.”