JPAC Joint United Kingdom (UK) Blood Transfusion and Tissue Transplantation Services Professional Advisory Committee

General Principles

This document provides guidance for the selection of live donors of tissues. It must be read in conjunction with Chapter 20 of the Guidelines for the Blood Transfusion Services in the United Kingdom - 8th Edition, 2013, which lists the general, and some specific aspects of donor selection.

Donors are selected to ensure that their tissue is unlikely to harm any recipient. The ultimate responsibility for the selection of donors rests with the respective National Medical Director.

The immediate responsibility is with the Qualified Healthcare Professional who must ensure that the donor fulfills the respective selection guidelines. When it is not clear from these guidelines if an individual donation is acceptable, no tissue should be used without discussion with a Designated Medical Officer.

The prospective donor must be evaluated for their suitability to donate by a Qualified Healthcare Professional who has undergone appropriate training to use this document. They must verify their assessment by signing and dating the donation record.

Special note must be taken of the content of the Tissue Safety Entry in the A-Z.

It is the responsibility of the Qualified Healthcare Professional to ensure that relatives/partners clearly understand the nature of the donation process. Relatives/partners must also understand the health questions and other information presented to them. Relatives/partners are asked about confidential aspects of their relative's/partner's medical history, hence great care must be taken over privacy and confidentiality. This means that third party interpreters can only be used, as described in the A-Z entry on Communication Difficulties.

Where there is separate guidance for different tissues this is made clear.

When there is a recognized risk to the recipient, the guidelines must be followed.

The following terms may be used:

Including
Lists any other terms which may be covered by the Guideline.

Definition
Where additional clarity is required, a definition is provided.

Obligatory
This will indicate how the donor must be dealt with by the use of several terms:

Must not donate
The donor must not donate if any of the statements apply to them, unless a 'discretion' clearly applies. Often the exclusion will depend on time related factors. If a donation cannot be taken, relatives/partners must be clearly advised why.

Refer to Designated Medical Officer
Is used when there is a need to seek further advice. The Designated Medical Officer is a suitably trained person authorized to undertake this task by the National Medical Director.

Discretionary
Gives reasons why a donor may be permitted to donate. The statements are conditional. All statements that must be fulfilled come before the final statement that they may be accepted. If the donor fulfils these requirements, as well as all others that apply, then they can be accepted.

See if relevant
Is used when an A-Z entry may or may not need to be consulted. This will depend upon the information provided by the donor's relatives/partner.

Additional Information
This provides background information as to why a particular action or actions is required.

See
Means that the specified A-Z entry must be consulted.

Reason for Change
This indicates the background to any changes made to the entry since the last Edition or Release

Some or all of these terms may be used under each subject heading or sub-heading.


This section was last updated in TDSG-LD Edition 203, Release 02, Issue 01.

Last updated 09/01/2014