Organ Allocation (cont)
The system of allocation differs according to the type of organ, whether it's a heart, lung, kidney, liver or cornea, but there are some guiding principles.
Patients waiting for a heart or liver who are classified as urgent are given priority. This is because their life expectancy without a transplant can be measured in days or even hours. If there are no urgent patients on the waiting list, the organ is offered for patients on the non-urgent list who are nearest in age and blood group to the donor. The location of donor and recipient is also considered to minimise the delay between retrieving and transplanting organs.
Organs donated from children generally go to child patients to ensure the best match in size but, when there are no suitable child recipients, organs from young people are given to adults.
When an organ becomes available anywhere in the country, the duty office at UK Transplant is notified immediately.
Staff identify whether there are any urgent cases, with blood group or age compatibility, in any of the transplant centres.
Sometimes there are no suitable patients anywhere in the UK but a reciprocal arrangement with the European Union enables donor organs to be offered to other EU countries.
