The HTA regulates establishments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that conduct licensed activities under the Human Tissue Act 2004 (HT Act). This includes establishments that remove samples from the deceased for certain purposes in the HT Act – called scheduled purposes.
Contact details for medical schools in Scotland can be found here.
There are 5 university medical schools in Scotland:
Aberdeen
Dundee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
St Andrews
The HTA does not regulate medical schools accepting body donations in Scotland.
The Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) Regulations 2007 (as amended) (the Q&S Regulations) and the Blood Safety and Quality Regulations 2005 define ‘blood component’ as ‘a therapeutic constituent of human blood (red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma) that can be prepared by various methods’.
The HTA and MHRA have agreed to extend their existing policy relating to dendritic cells to allow collection of blood as a starting material for an ATMP to be performed under either a Tissues and Cells or Blood Establishment Licence.
This will make it more straightforward to procure blood and increase the number of sites in the UK where this activity can occur without increasing the number of licences required.