Living kidney transplantation funding initiative announced

Funding has been announced to encourage living kidney transplantation for people who may be without means or opportunity to engage because of their ethnicity, culture or socio-economic circumstances.

17 April 2019

A new Living Transplant Initiative (LTI) funded by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is open for submissions until 10th May 2019.

Over the last two years, the LTI, administered via the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance and supported by NHSBT, has successfully raised awareness through community events and produced cultural and faith-based educational resources, which are now hosted on NHSBT’s website.

This year, NHSBT has allocated up to £100k to fund a further LTI with a specific focus on transforming community awareness and initial expressions of interest about living donor kidney transplantation into more people who seriously consider it as an option for them.

The initiative aims to give more people the means and the opportunity to donate a living donor kidney, so that more patients benefit from a successful transplant, particularly where living donor kidney transplantation is limited by ethnicity, culture and socio-economic circumstances. The initiative will be funded by NHSBT and will run until 31st March 2020.

Lisa Burnapp, Lead for Living Donation at NHS Blood and Transplant said: “A transplant from a living donor has the best chance of success and offers so many advantages that it is really important to make sure people know about the options that are available and how they could benefit from them.

“Providing information is important, but we also need to support patients and anyone considering living donation to understand more about their choices, so that they can make the right decision for them at the right time, regardless of their social, cultural or religious background.

“The LTI provides a great opportunity for patients and professionals to work together to put good ideas into practice, measure their impact and share initiatives that make a difference so that everyone wins.”