About NHSBT
We are NHS Blood and Transplant.
We stand for hope. We stand for life. We stand for helping people to do something extraordinary, save and improve the lives of others.
As an essential part of the NHS we take pride in playing our part to make the most of absolutely every donation – from blood and organs to tissues and stem cells.
The donors who make our work possible do so selflessly, giving life and changing life for the better. It is because of them, and the people who need their life saving and life enhancing donations, that we strive to be the best in all we do.
Our responsibilities are to:
- Encourage people to donate organs, blood and blood components, stem cells and tissues
- Optimise the safety and supply of blood and blood components, organs, stem cells and tissues and match them to patients
- Help to raise the quality, effectiveness and clinical outcomes of blood and transplant services
- Provide expert advice to other NHS organisations, and the four UK health departments
- Commission and conduct research and development to improve outcomes for patients
- Implement relevant EU statutory frameworks and guidance
Our mission is to save and enhance the lives of others
As an essential part of the NHS we take pride in playing our part to make the most of absolutely every donation – from blood and organs to tissues and stem cells.
With the support of our amazing donors, we give a lifeline to thousands of people every year.
But there is always more to do. Which is why we continually strive to improve the safety, availability, quality and efficiency of our services.
We are NHS Blood and Transplant
We stand for hope. We stand for life.
Our values
Caring | Expert | Quality
Our three core principles are critical to our service, guiding everything we do and inspiring us to be the best.
- We care about our donors, their families, the patients we serve, and our people.
- We are expert at meeting the needs of those who use our service and those who operate it.
- We provide quality products, services and experiences for donors, patients and colleagues
Our services
Blood services – Donors and patients are at the heart of our world-class blood service
We provide a safe, accessible and effective blood service for:
- donors – providing easier booking systems and thousands of places to donate
- patients – ensuring safe and consistent supply of blood
- the NHS – providing lower costs to hospitals through improved integration and planning of end-to-end supply chain
Our Blood Service Strategy
Our blood strategy sets out our mission to ensure every patient receives the blood they need, when they need it.
Transplantation services
We support patients, donors and their families throughout the donation and transplantation process
We are responsible for:
- Patient safety – fair, unbiased and compassionate matching and allocating of donated organs, tissue and stem cells
- Specialist support – dedicated clinical nurses and 24 hour support teams
- Community awareness – our campaign teams work tirelessly across the UK to encourage donations and enable us to offer more transplants
Organ donation and transplantation
We manage the NHS Organ Donor Register and National Transplant Register, which lets us fairly match donors to people who are waiting for a transplant. Thanks to our amazing donors, we were able to facilitate 4,651 transplants in 2023/24.
This is fantastic, but there is still lots to do. We estimate there to be around 7,500 people on the UK Transplant Waiting List. Last year over 415 people died while waiting for a transplant.