Organ donations

The HTA regulates donation of solid organs from living people.

Living donation

The Human Tissue Act 2004 requires the HTA to assess all proposed transplants from living donors and to decide whether the transplant should be approved, based on criteria set by Parliament. 

The HTA ensures donors are aware of the risks associated with transplants, that they have not been offered any reward to donate and have not been put under pressure to do so. Potential donors are interviewed by an Independent Assessor (IA) who submit a report to the HTA. 

The HTA works closely with NHS Blood and Transplant to ensure the appropriate systems are in place to support living organ donations.

The Human Tissue Act 2004 provides a legal framework for living organ donation so that more people can benefit from living donor transplants. Options for living donor transplants now include paired and pooled and non-directed altruistic donation.

There are special considerations to be taken into account for paired and pooled and non-directed altruistic donations, as these are different from the more established living donor transplants, for which the donor and recipient know each other. It is important that donor and recipient confidentiality and anonymity is respected in these cases.

For further information about living donor transplants please see the HTA's code of practice on Donation of solid organs for transplantation and the leaflet on living donor transplants.

Deceased donation

The underlying principle of deceased donation is that organs and tissues can only be removed with consent. The first step is to establish the wishes of the deceased. If the potential donor has made it clear that they do, or do not, wish their organs or tissue to be donated, this wish must be respected and cannot be overridden after their death. One way a person can indicate their wish to be a donor is by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register and carrying a donor card. If the wishes of the donor are not known, the Human Tissue Act 2004 permits consent to be obtained from the person nominated by the deceased person to act on his or her behalf, or from a person in a qualifying relationship – such as a partner or other relative or friend.

For more information on deceased donation please see the HTA's code of practice on Donation of solid organs for transplantation.

Updated May 2011