Practical and cultural considerations

You should check with your insurance company prior to donating. The transplant team is always happy to offer help and advice if your insurance company has any specific questions related to the donation and life-long risk for you.

You can still donate. However, the donor assessment will only take place at a specialist hospital. The donation will usually take place in the hospital where the person you are donating to is cared for.

You can still donate to a friend or family member as a living donor if it is possible for you to travel to the UK. However, there are some restrictions on donating to someone if you are not resident in the UK and do not have a close or previous relationship with them.

Some preliminary tests can be arranged in your own country to see if you could be a suitable donor. You should contact the living donor coordinator in your recipient's transplant centre for further information and advice.

If you are considered to be a suitable donor and English is not your first language, translation support is available for you throughout the assessment process.

Your safety is a priority. Your assessment needs to identify anything that puts your physical or mental health at risk, now or in the future. Living donor teams follow step-by-step guidelines when they are assessing people for donation and, if they have any concerns about your suitability as a living donor, they will discuss these with you.

If your assessment is straightforward, it will usually take between 4 to 6 weeks but this will vary between hospitals. It also depends on how your tests and investigations can be organised and if you need any extra hospital appointments to complete your assessment.

Most transplant centres will try to arrange the tests and investigations before the operation around your work to minimise disruption to your daily life.

You will be in hospital between 4 to 7 days, depending upon how quickly you recover. On the day of donation you will be monitored closely, including overnight, often in an intensive care unit, before returning to a normal ward. When you go home from the hospital, you will be given advice about future appointments and how to contact the hospital if you feel unwell or are worried about anything.

The recovery period after the operation usually lasts up to 12 weeks, most donors are able to return to work after 12 weeks.

There is a UK scheme which enables donors to reclaim necessary expenses such as loss of earnings and travel. However, you should first discuss this with your employer and find out what is available under your terms of employment around Statutory Sick Pay. 

As far as possible, you should not lose out financially because you have volunteered to be a living donor. There are policies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to reimburse reasonable expenses, including loss of earnings, for living donors.

To make a claim you will need to provide evidence of expenses and loss of earnings and make sure that you follow the guidance in the policy that applies to you. Your living donor coordinator will be able to advise you which policy applies and how to make a claim.