Another record-breaking year for the MRI transplant team

Manchester Royal Infirmary's transplant team has broken the national record for a single transplant centre yet again.  The MRI transplant team performed 317 life-changing transplants in 2015, compared to their previous national record of 294 procedures in 2013.  The 2014 total number of transplants performed at the MRI was 271.

 

179 of the operations performed last year were kidney transplants using organs from deceased donors, while a further 106 kidney transplants used organs from living donors.  A small number (28) of simultaneous kidney/pancreas transplants were also performed.

 

"We're delighted to have broken the national record yet again for the number of transplants performed by a single centre,"  said Titus Augustine, Clinical Director of the MRI Transplant Centre.

 

"Kidney transplants transform the lives of patients who may have endured years of dialysis. The more transplants we can perform, the more individuals we can continue to help and improve their quality of life.  The hard work and continued dedication of the MRI transplant and retrieval teams will ensure that we continue to provide a high quality, high performing service to our patients."

 

The MRI is one of the largest renal transplant centres in Europe and provides a full range of renal and pancreatic transplant services for adults and children from across the North West.  It is not only breaking records for the number of transplants performed, it is also one of the safest and most efficient transplant centres in the country.

 

The MRI also functions as a national organ retrieval centre and a dedicated team of surgeons and highly skilled nurses are on hand 24/7 to retrieve organs from donors who have made the ultimate decision to donate their organs to help save the lives of others at the time of their death. These organs are retrieved and transported speedily to a transplant centre anywhere in the UK for transplanting where a patient has been identified as a suitable match by the national matching scheme.  The process of retrieving an organ to transplanting into a recipient patient needs to be done in as short a time frame as possible to achieve the best function in the transplanted organ.  The team has to mobilise at an hour's notice when there is a confirmed donor in the region or nationally and occasionally in the Republic of Ireland.

 

The dedicated transplant team at the MRI continually strives to develop the service it provides to patients. Plans are in place to develop the transplant programme in Manchester even further with the focus on increasing the number of transplants performed at the MRI while making sure that patients receive the best possible outcomes from their transplant.  It is vital to plan for an increase in transplant numbers in line with demand and the waiting list which continues to rise.