• L Gaum, I Reynolds, M N A Jones, A J Clarkson, H L Gillan, and S B Kaye.
• St Paul's Eye Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, UK. liezl.gaum@rlbuht.nhs.uk
• Br J Anaesth. 2012 Jan 1; 108 Suppl 1: i43-7.

AbstractNHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) was established in 2005 as a Special Health Authority when the National Blood Authority and UK Transplant merged. This helped to bring tissue banking and organ transplantation services under one umbrella organization. This merger means that ~!95% of all deceased donors (whether tissue, organ or both) are now facilitated by one organization. NHSBT Tissue Services is the largest tissue establishment in the UK, and is a multi-tissue bank that specializes in the consent, retrieval, processing, storage, and dispatch of donated tissue coordinated from a purpose built, state-of-the-art tissue bank in Liverpool. Tissue donations can come from either tissue-only donors or solid organ donors who also donate tissue. Annually there are ~450 multi-tissue donors and 2500 eye donors in the UK, resulting in many thousands of transplants, including 3564 cornea transplants in 2010-2011. The separation of tissue- and organ-specific donors is largely artificial, and while organ transplantation can be life-saving, tissue transplantation can also have a dramatic effect on a patient's quality of life. It is hoped that all donors, both organ and tissue, will be recognized for the gift they make to society after their death.

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