If this is the case, this will be discussed with you and appropriate referrals and treatment provided. You will be required to have a psychological assessment. This is a meeting with a psychologist or psychiatrist to discuss your personal circumstances, any mental health issues you may have or have had and to explore your understanding of the process and reasons for donating.
This is because donating a kidney can be a very emotional process, and we want to ensure that the risk of any psychological harm to you is acceptably small. All donors must also be assessed by an Independent Assessor, on behalf of the Human Tissue Authority, who is completely separate from your medical team.
This is a one-to-one meeting at the end of the assessment process, where you will be asked about your reasons for donating and your understanding of the process. The Independent Assessor checks that you are not being pressurised into donating, or being paid to do so, which would be against the law, and asks you to sign a declaration.
The Human Tissue Authority needs to approve your donation in order for it to go ahead but, in general, it is very straightforward and you should not be anxious about it. Non-directed donors cannot choose who should receive their kidney. Kidneys are allocated to both children and adults using national allocation schemes which have been carefully designed to ensure that they are fair to everyone and that each kidney is put to the best possible use so that as many patients as possible within the UK benefit from a successful transplant.
Donating a kidney to someone specific with whom you have no previous existing relationship is called directed altruistic donation.
The likelihood of being compatible with someone whom you identify in this way is rare but may be possible. View a list of transplant centres.
Our aim is to ensure your donation benefits as many people on the waiting list as possible. All non-directed donors are entered into the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme to initiate a chain of up to three transplants, unless there is a recipient with high priority for transplant on the national transplant list. This is known as an altruistic donor chain and your kidney donation may make it possible for up to three people to receive a transplant, who would otherwise not have had the chance.
If you cannot be matched to a recipient to initiate a chain, the kidney is donated to the most suitable recipient on the National Transplant List, using the same national allocation scheme that is used for deceased donor kidneys.
Your living donor coordinator will explain how this works in more detail but you can read our UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme leaflet if you would like more information. Donating a kidney to someone specific with whom you have no previous existing relationship is called Directed altruistic donation.
When people post stories on Facebook or appeal for a donor through the media, it is usually because the recipient has waited a long time for a kidney or that a loved one simply wants to do something to help them.
There are many reasons why some people wait longer than others for a transplant but mostly it is because it is difficult to find a compatible kidney from either a living or deceased donor.
One appeal can generate interest from lots of people and not everyone can be assessed immediately or all at the same time. You need to be realistic about what this means for you. Below are some things to think about before you volunteer. Although media and social media reach many people, the likelihood of you being a suitable donor for the patient appealing for a kidney is very small, particularly if the recipient has a rare HLA type tissue type and has waited a long time to find a donor.
Before you offer to be tested, understand what might be involved for you by reading this information and researching other resources about living kidney donation. Giving a kidney is a wonderful gift but it is a big decision and needs careful consideration. Your recipient will be pinning a lot of hope on every person who volunteers so it is a good idea to give it some thought before you step forward.
Would you be willing to think about non-directed donation to someone else on the National Transplant List if you could not donate to the person whom you identified?
If you are not a suitable donor for the patient, or they successfully find a different donor — would you still be willing to donate to someone else in need? You might be able to help more people by making a chain of transplants possible from your single donation as a non-directed donor. You may be one of many donors who respond to an appeal for a specific person within a short space of time and the transplant centre needs to organise initial screening-blood tests and appointments as sensibly as possible for everyone who volunteers.
These cannot all be done at the same time and you may need to wait. In directed altruistic donation, it is usual to meet the person to whom you plan to donate — the law may make exceptions in specific circumstances but, generally, it is expected that donor and recipient will not be anonymous to one another.
You can get on the waitlist for a kidney transplant when your GFR is 20 or below— before kidney failure. The sooner you can get on the list, the better. Transplants are generally more successful when the transport time for an available kidney to the transplant facility is as short as possible.
So, the UNOS matching system also factors in the distance between donor and the transplant center when selecting a match. If you live in an area with access to more than one transplant center, it is recommended that you get screened and accepted at as many transplant centers as possible in order to have a greater chance of finding a kidney donor sooner.
Different transplant centers have different requirements for accepting transplant patients. A living kidney donor will undergo complete medical tests to ensure that he or she is compatible with the kidney recipient and healthy enough for surgery.
If surgery is cleared for both the donor and the recipient, and all kidney transplant match criteria is met, the donor will have a 2 to 3-hour surgery to remove 1 healthy kidney. That healthy kidney will then be transplanted into the recipient.
When successful, living kidney donor transplants last an average of 15—20 years and may last longer. There are certain requirements for a kidney donor to be your match for a transplant. A living kidney donor must be in good physical and emotional health. You and your donor must also have:. Finding a Kidney Donor. Talk to family and close friends about kidney donation. Ask to speak with the "Kidney Transplant Coordinator" about the possibility of donating.
If you live far away from the recipient's hospital, they may refer you to another hospital in your local area for initial tests. But, you still need to start by contacting the potential recipient's hospital to begin the process and coordinate testing.
Can I get tested as a donor without the recipient knowing? It may not be possible to be tested anonymously. You will need to ask the "Kidney Transplant Coordinator" or "Kidney Transplant Social Worker" at the recipient's hospital about this issue. I want to be a donor to a friend or family member, but they won't let me. What can I do? Some individuals with kidney failure may decide they do not want the transplant or choose not to consider a living donor.
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