Paired and pooled donations

A potential donor and recipient whose blood groups or tissue types are mismatched (or incompatible) may be paired with another donor and recipient in the same situation. This is called paired donation.

Sometimes, more than two donors and two recipients will be involved in the swap (called pooled donation) but each recipient will benefit from a transplant that they would not otherwise have had.

Paired or pooled donations are currently used only for kidney transplants. Donor and recipient operations are planned to take place at the same time and the organs are transported between hospitals.

Local transplant centres will assess whether a donor and recipient are suitable to be put forward for the national paired and pooled donation scheme. If so, their details will be put on to a national register. Every three months a matching run takes place which matches pairs and pools together based on a range of factors. These include tissue type compatibility and blood group. Contact details for local transplant centres are available from NHS Blood and Transplant.

Further information can also be found on paired and pooled page of the NHSBT website.

Updated July 2010