National Liver Offering Scheme

In 2018 NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) introduced a new way of matching livers from deceased donors to adult patients on the liver transplant waiting list. The new scheme matches livers on a national, rather than a regional, basis and helps to place the organ with the patient most likely to benefit from it. This is expected to increase the number of life-years gained from transplanted livers and decrease the number of people who die on the waiting list.

The scheme looks at the characteristics of the donor and the liver patient and matches the donated liver to the patient in a more specific way; helping to make sure the liver is allocated to the patient who will receive the most benefit from it. The new scheme uses a new scoring system called the Transplant Benefit Score (TBS).

ODT Hub Operations is now responsible for all liver offering rather than Specialist Nurses – Organ Donation (SN-ODs). This supports SN-ODs by removing hours of time spent on administrative tasks and allows them more time to spend with donor families and on clinical activities.

* The roadshows were set up to deliver information on the new National Liver Offering Scheme to Liver Transplant Coordinators, Specialist Nurses – Organ Donation and surgeons and to answer any questions that arose.