How do I go about donating a kidney?

If you are considering donating a kidney altruistically or would simply like to talk to someone for further information, contact the Living Donor Co-ordinator Nursing Team in your closest kidney transplant centre. Every kidney transplant centre in the UK has a team like this who will be able to help you with your enquiries. You will be able to discuss the arrangements that can be made for you to be assessed as a donor in your local area.

You can also find out about what will happen if you are found to be a suitable donor and wish to proceed to donation. You can contact any transplant centre, but it is a good idea to start with the one that is closest to where you live, as it is likely to be more convenient for you to attend appointments locally.

If you would like to discuss the possibility of donating a kidney before you contact a transplant centre, you can contact Give a Kidney – One’s Enough. Click here to contact us.

Who can give?

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland anyone can give a kidney as long as they are found to be physically and psychologically suitable.

No minimum age limit is specified under the Human Tissue Act 2004, but most donors will be over the age of 18 years. Children are considered only in exceptional circumstances, and donation from them would require court approval.

In Scotland people over 16 years of age can be legally considered as living kidney donors.

Assessing your suitability as a donor

The assessment procedure can take anything from three to 18 months and involves a whole series of blood tests, scans and physical and psychological assessments.

If you are considered physically and psychologically healthy, you will then see an assessor from the Human Tissue Authority. The assessor’s job is to make sure that you have fully understood all the implications of giving a kidney and that you are not being paid to donate (which is illegal) or being put under pressure to do so. They will also ask you to prove your identity.

The transplant service will then match you to a suitable recipient on the national kidney waiting list. You will not be able to choose whom the kidney is given to or to put any limitation on who receives the kidney.

After your operation, your kidney will be taken away immediately for transplantation at the earliest possible time. If the recipient lives at a considerable distance, the kidney is likely to be flown to its destination.

The doctors at your hospital may be able to tell you how the recipient is progressing with your kidney, but you will not be told their identity. After a while, you may be able to write an anonymous letter to the recipient, and they may write back to let you know how they are doing.

A full list of transplant centres and contact telephone numbers is given on the NHS Blood and Transplant website www.organdonation.nhs.uk. If you do not know the centre that is closest to you, you can email your enquiry to NHS Blood and Transplant and they will be able to guide you. The table below may also help you to work out which transplant centre covers your area of the country.

Region	Name of transplant centre	Tel
Northern Ireland	Belfast City Hospital	02890 329241
West Scotland	Glasgow Royal Infirmary	0141 211 4000
East Scotland	Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	0131 242 1000
South Wales	University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff	029 2074 7747
North Wales and North West England	Royal Liverpool University Hospital Manchester Royal Infirmary	0151 706 2000 0161 276 1234
Isle of Man	Royal Liverpool University Hospital	0151 706 2000
North East England and Yorkshire	Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne St James’s University Hospital, Leeds Northern General Hospital, Sheffield	0191 233 6161 0113 243 3144 0114 243 4343
The Midlands	Nottingham City Hospital Leicester General Hospital University Hospital Coventry Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham	0115 969 1169 0116 249 0490 024 7696 4000 0121 627 2544
Cambridgeshire and East Anglia	Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge	01223 245 151
Oxfordshire	Churchill Hospital, Oxford	0186 574 1841
London – North	West London Renal Transplant Centre, Hammersmith The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead	020 3313 1000 020 7377 7000 020 7794 0500
London – South	St George’s Hospital, Tooting Guy’s Hospital, Southwark	020 8672 1255 020 7188 7188
South West England	Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth Southmead Hospital, Bristol Derriford Hospital, Plymouth	023 9228 6000 0117 970 1212 0845 155 8155
Channel Islands	Guy’s Hospital, Southwark	020 7188 7188