London, July 20 (IANS): Britain's organ donation crisis is threatening the lives of hundreds of patients who desperately need transplants, a media report said on Monday.

According to a report published by the National Health Service, for the first time in a decade, the number of deceased organ donors has dropped because advances in medical care are saving more lives and family members are refusing to give consent, The Telegraph reported.

Last year, 429 patients died while on the active waiting list for an organ transplant, 38 of whom were waiting for heart transplants, the report said.

New figures showed there were 182 heart transplants carried out in the country last year, a drop of 12 percent and the number of people desperately waiting for a new heart has more than doubled in just five years.

At the end of March 2015, there were 6,943 patients on the transplant waiting list with a further 3,375 temporarily suspended from the list, because they were too ill to survive the operation, the report added.