Non-directed altruistic donation

Non-directed altruistic donation (commonly known as altruistic donation) is a form of donation whereby a healthy living person is able to donate an organ or part organ, usually a kidney, to someone they do not know.

The donor does not have a relationship with the recipient and is not informed who the recipient will be.

How to get further information about becoming an altruistic donor

If a person wants to donate an organ or part organ, they will need to contact their local transplant centre in order to be assessed. This assessment will include a number of medical tests and also a mental health assessment. These tests will take a number of months to be completed.

If an individual is assessed as a suitable donor they will be referred to an HTA Independent Assessor (IA). The IA will interview the potential donor to ensure the requirements of the Human Tissue Act have been met. The IA will submit a report of their interviews to the HTA. The decision on the case is then made by a panel of Authority Members.

Following approval the donor’s name will be put forward to a national allocation scheme and matched to a suitable recipient. This works in the same way as deceased donation, where a donor is matched to a patient on the national waiting list.

Further information can be found on the altruistic page of the NHSBT website

Read about the first UK meeting of an altruistic kidney donor and a stranger recipient, which happened in 2007.

Updated July 2010