Altruistic donations

A living person who has never met the possible recipient may be considered to become an organ donor. This is called 'altruistic non-directed donation'.

If a person wants to donate an organ, usually a kidney, to an unknown recipient, they need to contact their local transplant centre so that they can be assessed. If they are assessed as a suitable donor and are still willing to go ahead, their name will be put forward to a national allocation scheme and matched to a suitable person. This works in the same way that organs from people who have died are matched to patients on the waiting list.

Contact details for transplant centres can be found on the NHS Blood and Tranplant website.