From BBC Health two days ago, the above and:

The UK used to be a world leader in the field – but has fallen behind major Western nations. The number of heart and lung transplants the NHS carries out each year has not increased in three decades. BBC File on 4 Investigates has found that technology is outdated, there is a lack of investment and senior surgeons are leaving – while patients point to issues with ongoing care.

and:

While the number of organs donated in the UK is equal to, or better than, much of other parts of Europe per head, the NHS uses far fewer of the hearts and lungs it gets than most other countries. Just one in 10 lungs and one in seven hearts are transplanted. Some countries make use of twice as many.

Consequently, the NHS performs fewer heart transplants, and half as many lung transplants per head than many other European countries. The NHS’s poor performance is partly down to equipment, a dozen surgeons and experts have told the BBC.

but then:

Modern alternatives to ice boxes are available that keep hearts beating and oxygenated while they are being transported. The cold-storage devices also assess a heart’s viability, but they are only part-funded by the NHS.

In Glasgow, where those alternatives are used more often because of additional financial support from the Scottish government, the transplant centre says it has “substantially” improved its ability to accept donor hearts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyrj8rz6jno

That wee reference triggered a search, finding in ANNUAL REPORT ON HEART TRANSPLANTATION REPORT FOR 2024/2025 PUBLISHED AUGUST 2025 PRODUCED IN COLLABORATION WITH NHS ENGLAND, the map at the top and this:

Source: https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/37113/nhsbt-heart-transplantation-report-2425.pdf

That leads me to place Scotland in a European context in the BBC block graph below:

Make you wonder why this is not headline news in BBC Scotland, doesn’t it?

It could begin an answer to this: