Organ Donation

Liver Organ Allocation

The Liver Organ Sharing Principles set out a tiered allocation protocol designed to best meet the needs of patients requiring a liver transplant.

The suitability of the Principles is monitored by the NHSBT Liver Advisory Group.

Detailed explanations of how patients are categorised and how the Principles are applied to different situations can be found here:

In addition to the organ allocation scheme for livers there are separate versions of National Protocols and Guidelines for liver transplantation in children and in adult patients which can be accessed below:

Due to the potential risk of recurrent disease or poor compliance leading to graft loss, clear guidelines have been agreed by the six liver transplant centres within the UK. These have been endorsed by the UKT Liver Advisory Group (LAG) and include careful assessment of psychosocial and substance use factors for patients with a diagnosis of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) and for patients being considered for liver transplantation where there is a history of previous illicit drug use:

UK Liver Transplant Group recommendations for liver transplant assessment in the context of alcohol-related liver disease (16kb)

UK Liver Transplant Group recommendations for liver transplant assessment in the context of illicit drug use (31kb)