Scottish Donation and Transplant Group written update: December 2025

Tissue donation update

Update provided by:

• Dr Sharon Zahra, Clinical Lead, Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS)
• Mr Neil Healy, Lead Nurse Tissues and Cells, SNBTS

Staffing update

SNBTS recently received funding for an additional four tissue retrieval staff and two Tissue Donor Co-ordinators, specifically to help support eye donation in the central belt of Scotland. These staff are newly in post and are currently being trained in carrying out authorisation, donor characterisation or eye retrieval as relevant with the aim of providing a robust seven day service for eye retrieval in the central belt of Scotland.

Tissue referrals 

The Tissue Donor Co-ordinators continue to engage with tissue donating hospitals to maintain awareness about tissue donation, providing training and feedback on progressing and missed donation potential on a regular basis. SNBTS staff are also actively engaging with a number of hospices to start an eye-donation programme from the various hospices; while this is something that individuals do wish to progress in their local hospices it has been surprising to have feedback that not all staff are willing to consider donation so that going ahead with a pathway for eye donation is not immediately possible as there are a number of obstacles to overcome. This is being actively managed with a number of in-person sessions planned with the various hospices to explain the importance of donation so as to find a way of having an active donor referral pathway.

During the first eight months of this financial year (April to November 2025) there were 191 referrals for consideration of multi-tissue donation. SNBTS continues to note that a relatively high proportion of higher risk potential donors and donors with multiple co-morbidities are being referred leading to a high deferral rate – 143 of the 191 (75%) referrals were deferred. There is also a continuing trend of significant family refusals.

Tissue donation rates

In the first eight months of the current financial year (April to November 2025), 21 deceased donors tissue donors were successfully progressed to donation. Nineteen of the 21 donors donated tissue after organ donation, with two tissue only donors – there was a total of 23 heart tissue products and 45 tendons. The team also accepted a further seven hearts unsuitable for transplantation for research and training in this time period.  

For the Assessment of Individualised Risk (FAIR) III changes

The updated MaSH (questionnaire used for the assessment of all UK organ and tissue donors) that includes changes as a result of FAIR III is now in routine use. 

Pancreatic islet programme 

The SNBTS islet isolation lab continues to provide an excellent life-saving service. In the first seven months of this financial year (April to October 2025), 17 suitable pancreata were sent to SNBTS, leading to a successful islet cell product in five cases (29%) with all five being successfully transplanted. 

SNBTS is currently leading on behalf of the UK and wider islet transplantation community on identifying a suitable replacement for the COBE, an essential piece of equipment required for islet cell purification. SNBTS has carried out assessment of two pieces of equipment (Prodigy and PRISM) with varying results – the validation of both is ongoing and SNBTS hopes to have an identified preferred option (based on ability to successfully isolate islet cells reliably) over the next several months.

Live bone donation

Identifying suitable potential bone donors from patients having a primary hip replacement continues to be a challenge due to a very high proportion of such patients having multiple co-morbidities that lead to potential donor deferral. Despite this the bone donation rate in the first seven months of this financial year (April to October 2025) has been reasonably steady, with 382 bones being donated while 364 bone were used clinically. 

In light of the fact that the proportion of patients waiting for a primary hip replacement that are identified as being suitable for bone donation has decreased over time, SNBTS has recently started a bone donation programme at an additional hospital (Forth Valley Hospital) with the aim of ensuring a steady supply of bone that meets the clinical demand.