The NHSBT UK Strategy for Living Donor Kidney Transplantation
Lisa Burnapp
Lead Nurse- Living Donation, NHS Blood and Transplant
Consultant Nurse, Living Donor Kidney Transplantation, Guy’s & St.
Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Thursday 3 rd May, 2012. 14:30-16:00. Transplantation Session.
Living donor transplantation accounts for 38% of all transplants performed across the UK and 98% of this activity is in kidney programmes, with 1 in 3 recipients currently receiving a kidney from a living donor. There has been a three-fold increase in living donor activity in ten years but latest statistics indicate that without a coherent strategy to support future development and investment in the programme, sustainable expansion is at risk. In response to these concerns, the Directorate of Organ Donation and Transplantation within
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) made the development of a UK Strategy for Living Donor Kidney Transplantation one of its priorities, with an overall objective to ‘
Promote increases in living donation to match the best international benchmarks within comparable funding streams’ . The strategy is built upon three key themes, which focus on increasing activity whilst ensuring that donor safety and welfare remain paramount. It was informed by a NHSBT
UK wide review of living donor kidney transplant programmes to benchmark existing practice and was formally launched in January 2012. A Steering
Group has been established to develop an implementation plan and to engage with the wider transplant community in delivering the strategy.