UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme

Since January 2012, the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme (UKLKSS) is the collective term used to describe the schemes in which donated kidneys are 'shared' across the UK. The UKLKSS was established after the introduction of the Human Tissue Act 2004 and the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act (2006) and has since developed into one of the most successful schemes in Europe. The UKLKSS includes paired/pooled donation (PPD) and altruistic donor chains (ADCs) initiated by non-directed altruistic donors (NDADs). More information about the Living Donor Kidney Transplantation policy.

The UKLKSS include:

Paired/pooled donation (PPD)

Donor-recipient pairs who are incompatible by Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) type or ABO blood group and unable to donate directly, one to the other, are registered in a national scheme to achieve compatible transplants with other pairs. When two pairs are involved it is called 'paired' donation; more than two pairs is called 'pooled' donation. Compatible donor-recipient pairs who may seek a better HLA or age match may also be registered in the scheme.

Altruistic Donor Chains (ADC)

When a person chooses to donate anonymously as a non-directed altruistic donor (NDAD) to a recipient on the national waiting list, the donor is registered into the UKLKSS to initiate an altruistic donor chain (ADC). The donated kidney is allocated to a recipient in the paired/pooled scheme and, in turn, the donor registered with that recipient donates to another recipient and so on. The chain ends when the last donor donates to a recipient on the national transplant list. Living Donor Kidney Matching Runs (LDKMR) Living Donor Kidney Matching Runs are performed 4 times per year to identify paired/pooled exchanges and altruistic donor chains in optimal combinations (LDKMR matching process). If there is a high priority recipient on the national transplant list, the NDAD kidney will be offered to that recipient prior to inclusion in the LDKMR.

More information about non-directed and directed altruistic donation.

NHSBT Living Donor Kidney Transplantation Workshop 2017

The workshop was supported by a faculty from across NHSBT, clinical transplantation and the scientific community. There were 83 attendees, with representation from almost every kidney transplant centre as well as referring nephrology units and histocompatibility and immunogenetics laboratories, including:

• Transplant surgery
• Living donor co-ordination; specialist nursing
• Nephrology
• Clinical Science
• NHSBT- Statistics and Clinical Studies; Scientific Support

The actions and outcomes from the workshop will be taken forward through the LDKT 2020 Strategy Implementation Group.