Scottish Donation and Transplant Group written update: December 2023

National Organ Retrieval Services (NORS) activity

Update given by: 

• Chris Johnston, Consultant Transplant Surgeon/ NORS Representative, NHS Lothian

​​​​​Overall, the Edinburgh retrieval team has been busy with monthly activity of seventeen retrievals per month over the last quarter, compared to a historical average of 12.5. The recent trend of a marked shift towards donation after circulatory death (DCD) donation has continued.

Edinburgh still does not have a full-time perfusion team (current team of five full time equivalent (FTE) advanced perfusion practitioners; six are essential for a full-time rota). This clearly creates a strain on current team members and reduces resilience of the team for continued service provision in the event of staff absence (as evidenced by October 2023 with 15% Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP) provision for DCD donors compared to a background of 85% for last year).

The number of liver transplants performed in Edinburgh correlates very closely to availability of NRP (as above, super-urgent transplants excluded). The absence of full-time perfusion cover is continuing to directly impact provision of liver transplantation (and kidney/pancreas transplantation) in Edinburgh monthly.