Scottish Donation and Transplant Group minutes: December 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Professor John Casey (Co-chair), Joint Chair and Clinical Advisor for Transplantation in Scotland

• Dr Iain MacLeod (Co-chair), Joint Chair and Clinical Advisor for Organ Donation in Scotland

• Mr John Asher, Consultant Renal Transplant Surgeon, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC)

• Dr Pauline Austin, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, NHS Tayside and Regional Clinical Lead for Organ Donation (RCLOD)

• Lynne Beveridge, Clinical Nurse Manager, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE)

• Linda Blake, PJ Foundation

• Elaine Campbell, PJ Foundation

• Sumrah Chohan, Human Tissue Authority (HTA)

• Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)

• Simon Cuthbert-Kerr, Deputy Director, Public Health Capabilities, Scottish Government (SG)

• Amanda Forbes, Scottish National Heart Failure Service Manager, Golden Jubilee National Hospital

• Professor John Forsythe, NHSBT

• George Gordon, NHS Lothian Organ and Tissue Donation Committee (ODC) Chair/Scotland Regional ODC Chair

• Neil Healy, Lead Nurse for Tissues, Cells, and Advanced Therapeutics, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, (SNBTS)

• James How, Blood, Tissue and Organ Donation Team Leader, SG

• Ben Hume, NHSBT

• Jen Lumsdaine, Lead Nurse, Living Donation Scotland, NHS Lothian

• Professor Derek Manus, Medical Director, NHSBT

• Professor Lorna Marson, RIE, and Non-Executive Director, NHSBT

• Donna McLeod, Unit Head, Blood, Organ and Tissue Policy and Funeral Sector Policy Unit, SG

• Dr Gerard Meachery, Consultant in Respiratory and Transplant Medicine, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle

• David Pearson, Assistant Service Manager, RIE

• Ben Reynol

• HS National Services Division (NSD)

• Andrea Kinver, SG Marketing

Apologies

• Dr Andrew Bathgate, Consultant Hepatologist, NHS Lothian

• Dr Jonathan Dalzell, Consultant Cardiologist, Golden Jubilee National Hospital

• Dr Matthew Saunders, Public Health Consultant, Public Health Scotland

• John Stirling, Head of Operations, NHSBT

• Moira Straiton, Associate Director, Specialist Services and National Planning, NSD

• Dr David Walbaum, Consultant Nephrologist, NHS Grampian

• ds, Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist, NHS GGC

• Dr Lesley Ross, Patient Representative

• Rachel Rowson, Regional Manager for Scotland, NHSBT

• Dr David Turner, Consultant Clinical Scientist, SNBTS

• Dr Helen Tyler, Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine and RCLOD, NHS Forth Valley

• Claire Williment, Accountable Executive, Organ Utilisation Programme, NHSBT

• Dr Sharon Zahra, Clinical Lead, Tissues, Cells and Advanced Therapeutics, SNBTS

Guests

• Raymond Braid, NHS National Services Division (NSD)

• Andrea Kinver, SG Marketing

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

Iain MacLeod welcomed attendees to the meeting. In particular, he welcomed new SDTG members to their first meeting, Professor Lorna Marson, who is now attending SDTG meetings on behalf of Peter Wyman, NHSBT, and Lynne Beveridge and David Pearson, NHS Lothian, who will attend future SDTG meetings in place of Adam Duncan-Rusk, who is leaving his post in the RIE at the end of this year.

Iain also welcomed Ben Hume, NHSBT, who joined the meeting to give an update on the Assessment and Recovery Centre (ARC) pilots at agenda item four and Andrea Kinver, SG marketing, who will give an update on marketing campaigns at agenda item six.

Minutes of meeting on 21 August 2025

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record. There was one action arising from the previous minutes, that James How, Linda White and NSD would bring a paper to the December SDTG meeting on Scottish Implementation Steering Group for Organ Utilisation (ISOU) actions. This action has been completed via the written update paper brought to this meeting.

Donation and Transplantation Plan for Scotland: 2021-26 Annual report

James How noted that the 2025 annual report, prepared by Scottish Government officials, had been circulated to members with the meeting papers.  It outlines a status update on progress against the 21 actions in the Plan. As at 1 December 2025, 18 actions are complete with a number continuing to be monitored. The three actions on which work is still outstanding are: action 1.3 on evaluation of the opt out system, action 3.4 on eye donation, and action 6.1 on raising awareness of the importance of donating organs for research. James confirmed that a note would circulate with the minutes of the meeting outlining the way forward on action 1.3; good progress had been made on action 3.4 which is close to being marked as complete; and the Scottish Government funded transplant research network would be taking forward action 6.1.

The group acknowledged that a number of improvements have been made over the life of the Plan, including greater utilisation of organs, increased numbers of people being considered for transplant, and significant changes in technology. John Casey advised that it was an incredible achievement to progress the completion of the work outlined in the Plan. However, he noted the importance and priority of future planning to address and prioritise new challenges faced, evolving infrastructure, and future preparation for growing transplantation expectations in coming years. Iain MacLeod confirmed that the group should consider next steps to consider opportunities to move ahead.

John Asher advised that an access to transplant review had looked at population and equity of access to kidneys. The significance of renal disease was highlighted, with almost double renal patients requiring transplant due to longer life expectancy. Sharon Zahra acknowledged recent Scottish Government funding for additional eye retrieval staff, and increasing awareness of eye donation. She reported that work is ongoing to explore Scottish specific challenges in accessing corneas, with consideration to be given to the idea of setting up a Scottish eye bank. Anthony Clarkson confirmed that Scotland is a net importer of corneas. NHSBT is working to ensure Wales becomes self-sufficient in corneas and would be happy to look to involve Scotland in that work.

Derek Manus said that he had read the report with interest and felt there were things for NHSBT to learn about the work done in Scotland, and vice versa. John Casey noted the value of collaboration and felt that had been happening mainly via SDTG; he agreed more such work would be useful. Iain MacLeod concluded that collaboration will be key in the development of any further strategy or plan.

James How confirmed that the report would now be submitted to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health for information.

Implementation of the transplant patient survey report recommendations

Lesley Ross noted that the transplant patient survey report was approved by SDTG in December 2024.  Feedback on implementation of the recommendations, as at December 2025, has been provided by NSD, the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, and the Edinburgh Transplant Unit. However, there have been no responses yet from the Glasgow Transplant Unit or the Freeman.

Lesley drew attention to work underway following the survey to improve accessibility of websites and peer support. It was highlighted that psychological support remains an unmet need in some areas. However, there are exemplars of gold star service and Lesley drew particular attention to the provision provided by the Golden Jubilee National Hospital. Jen Lumsdaine noted the value of peer support delivered by Kidney Care UK, but noted that this service will need funding going forward. John Asher advised that psychological support is inadequate for non-transplant patients and this requires to be addressed.

James How noted the ongoing value of the patient feedback provided and noted that SDTG would continue to receive updates on progress in taking forward the recommendations, either in writing or via further SDTG discussions.

NHS Blood and Transplant UK strategy

Anthony Clarkson presented an update on NHSBT’s current performance including the current Scottish transplantation data, as set out in the written update provided to SDTG.

Implementation Steering Group for Organ Utilisation (ISOU) update

John Forsythe gave an update on ISOU work, including the final recommendations and reports to be published and next steps now that ISOU has come to an end. Stakeholder feedback strongly confirmed that collaboration across four nations would be required to progress recommendations. A closure report for Westminster Ministers will be shared publicly. Devolved Governments are actively engaged with actions being transferred.

James How summarised the ISOU recommendations – Scotland update paper circulated with the papers, which outlines Scotland’s progress against the ISOU recommendations. These are mainly being taken forward by NSD. Raymond Braid confirmed that NSD was working on a number of actions in this area. James confirmed that the huge amount of work that had been done by ISOU would continue to be considered in Scotland, including through the commissioning process led by NSD. It would also be considered in development of any follow up to the current Scottish Plan.

Assessment and Recovery Centres (ARCs) update on pilots

Anthony Clarkson and Ben Hume provided an update on the ARC pilots. The overall rationale behind this work is to increase transplant opportunities. ARCs will enable expertise to be concentrated across the UK in a number of centres, allowing organs to be assessed and treated and sent on to priority patients. Three pilot groups will commence in January 2026, aiming to deliver an initial 36 additional transplants. The long term work on ARCs will take up to five years. It is anticipated that this will deliver up to 750 additional transplant opportunities.

John Forsythe said there were exciting developments and commended the work being done, which built on ISOU recommendations. John Asher agreed that this was an exciting opportunity; the estimate of numbers for increased transplants were likely to be conservative. John Casey noted that he wanted to take a Scotland-wide approach to ARCs and that it would be important for SDTG to keep updated on progress. Ben Hume recognised the funding now in place for these pilots from NHSBT and the Scottish Government and welcomed the reactions from SDTG to progress made. 

Organ Donation Joint Working Group (ODJWG) next steps for implementation

Anthony Clarkson provided an update on the ODJWG’s report ‘A Bolder, Braver Approach for Organ Donation in the UK.’ He highlighted that the ‘ODJWG – Next Steps for Implementation’ paper, which was circulated with the meeting papers, shows which bodies will lead on taking forward the recommendations. Anthony said that work is underway to develop and schedule a five year programme of work to implement the recommendations. 

James How gave an update on the ODJWG actions for Scotland, noting that most of the recommendations were for NHSBT to take forward. For that reason, the report will only be put forward to Scottish Ministers to note following this meeting, so that they can see how NHSBT will be taking forward the work. It would be important to ensure that Scotland was fully integrated into the programme described by Anthony, as some parts of the policy landscape are not the same in Scotland. However, some of the recommendations were for Scotland to lead on as they come under devolved areas of competence, for example in relation to the school curriculum, marketing, and the proposal for a four nations Chief Medical Officer (CMO) letter on neurological death testing. In these areas, Scotland would need to feed progress into the UK programme. 

Anthony took these points on board and agreed to give regular updates on this work to SDTG going forward. Claire Williment added that further updates would also be given at other meetings attended by Scottish Government, including the NHSBT accountability meetings and the NHSBT board meetings. John Forsythe noted the very quick progress that had already been made on the joint CMO letter, showing how much appetite there was for improvement in this area.

George Gordon reflected on the level of change described in the report and suggested that integrating aspects of this work into Memoranda of Understanding with Organ Donation Committee’s (ODC’s) should be considered. Neil Healy and Sharon Zahra noted that the ODJWG report does not mention tissue donation at all, which is regrettable as many of the issues that are relevant to organs are also relevant to tissues. Anthony committed to ensuring that tissue donation was also covered in this work.

Current deceased organ donation and transplantation statistics in Scotland

Rachel Rowson updated on the year to date deceased organ donation numbers in Scotland, as per the written report given to SDTG.

Authorisation form review

Rachel Rowson provided an update on NHSBT’s plans to review the donor authorisation form.

Any other business

James How advised that a one-page overview outlining the general work plan for the final monitoring and evaluation of the opt out system in 2026 will be circulated with the minutes from this meeting. This will give members an early sense of the plans and help to identify who might want to contribute or get involved in the design of this work.

Evaluation of the 2025 to 2026 organ and tissue donation marketing campaign

Andrea Kinver gave an update on the evaluation of the 2025 to 2026 organ and tissue donation marketing campaign, ‘Don’t Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt’, which ran during organ and tissue donation week in September through to October. The key focus of the campaign was on stressing the need to register your decision on the organ donor register. The campaign was successful in raising awareness across social media.

George Gordon noted that there was an issue regarding cookies, which was preventing people in the ODCs from using the new QR codes piloted this year to see how much website traffic was being driven from certain regions.

James How updated on the organ and tissue donation debate which had taken place in the Scottish Parliament on 25 September 2026 during organ and tissue donation week, which had been useful in raising the profile of organ donation. James thanked George Gordon for his involvement in preparing the debate. James also updated on the Ministerial visit to SNBTS’s headquarters at the Jack Copland Centre on 2 December 2026. This visit had focused on highlighting the importance of corneal donation and transplantation.

Living kidney donation marketing campaign 2026

Andrea Kinver updated on the plans for a living kidney donation marketing campaign in March 2026. 

Also under AOB, Gerard Meachery gave an update on progress on transplantation at the Freeman Hospital. He advised that the Freeman is experiencing their best quarter since 2019 and are now exceeding planned transplant activity. He also reported on a number of other positive developments, including that senior leaders are very supportive of the bid to pilot ARCs. John Casey thanked Gerard for these updates and said James How and Linda White would be in touch to see how we can help to facilitate closer interactions with the Freeman in future.

Written updates

Iain MacLeod referred the group to the written updates circulated with the papers.

Next meeting

The next meeting will be held on 7 May 2026, 14:00 – 16:00, via MS Teams.

Summary of action points 

Action 1: James How and Linda White to continue to seek further updates on progress towards implementing the transplant patient survey recommendations ahead of further SDTG consideration.

Action 2: Anthony Clarkson to give a further update on progress on the ODJWG work at the next SDTG meeting.

Action 3: Andrea Kinver to review QR codes to assess if improvement required to maximise accessibility.

Action 4: James How and Linda White to contact the Freeman Hospital to discuss how to help facilitate future updates to SDTG.

Action 5: As raised by Ben Reynolds in the meeting, James How and Linda White to schedule a discussion at the next SDTG meeting on challenges facing the Scottish paediatric service.