Endorsements and awards

"As President of the Royal College of Pathologists and Professor of Haematology at Barts and the London. I am aware of the excellent work of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Tissue Services division and commend the innovation of the Tissue Retrieval Facility at Speke in Liverpool. This will serve to increase the safety of the tissues donated for transplantation and improve the staff logistics and improve the dignity of the tissue donation process. The ethical and feasibility overview of the facility's steering committee will ensure appropriate oversight of the initial pilot phase over the first 2 years of its operation as recommended by the Joint RCPath/NHSBT working group that studied the idea of the facility while it was in the planning phase."

Professor Adrian Newland, President of the Royal College of Pathologists and Professor of Haematology at Barts and the London

"There is an increasing demand for repair and reconstruction of knee ligaments due to sporting injuries and technology is advancing rapidly. Soft tissue allografts have and will have a major role and in response to this demand the British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK) has worked with NHSBT's Tissue Services for over 5 years providing direct clinical input into the operational, research and development and strategy aspects of the service. Tissue Services has proved a responsive provider of high quality tissues and services. The clinical interaction between the two organisations has given clinical governance to the provision of allografts which will benefit current orthopaedic recipients of soft tissue allografts as well as those of the future."

Mr Robin Allum, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Heatherwood and Exham Park Hospitals NHS Trust 

"An example of the collaborative approach NHSBT has adopted in the development of new products has been the work of the Tissue Service to develop a national arterial tissue bank. Arterial tissues are processed and cryopreserved for surgeons to replace infected or diseased arteries in patients in whom no other suitable grafts are available. This project has been co-ordinated from the new facility in Liverpool with close contact with specialist surgeons from the fields of vascular and transplant surgery. This degree of involvement with the specialists that will later use these tissues has helped to ensure that, from the outset, the process development has been streamlined and efficient. Early contact with the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland lead to the inclusion of a consultant vascular surgeon in the project management team. This approach has helped to ensure that only clinically relevant products are developed and that awareness of the project is maintained within the end-user surgical community. This involvement will be continued once the arterial tissue bank is fully established by maintaining a clinical user group to support, audit and maintain a tissue registry, and to further develop other related tissue banking programmes."

Mr Dominic Dodd, Consultant Vascular Surgeon

Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S5 7AU

Mr Roger Ellingham, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, York Hospital

"I write to thank you for the exemplary service that you provide in Tissue Services. The staff communicate effectively at all times and you have always been helpful with my requests for amniotic membrane for ocular transplantation. Routine surgery is easy to plan with the tissue arriving in good condition in a timely manner. Emergency surgery has been possible with courier delivery all the way to York, almost quicker than it is possible to take a patient to theatre! I have had occasion to request unusual sizes of amniotic membrane for special circumstances. I found Tissue Services to be very responsive to these requests and proactive in supplying additional, technical information, which Tissue Services recognised as being important. Please keep up the good work and quality service you provide."

Mr Dominic Dodd, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Northern General Hospital

"I have worked closely with NHSBT and its Tissue Services arm over the last 10 years. During this time NHSBT have provided an excellent service in developing, expanding and supporting bone donation from patients undergoing joint replacement surgery across the UK and In particular the provision of bone from NHSBT bone bank for patients undergoing revision joint replacement who need bone to restore their skeleton. The Tissue Services arm has been responsive to the needs of the service and the patients and has also worked very hard to ensure not only the safety of the tissues but also the timely supply of the tissue. Tissue Services have also engaged with us in a programme of research to ensure the future safety of bone donation as well as looking towards developing future supplies and innovation in the field. The hard work that the Tissues Services team has put in has ensured a responsive, safe and innovative service to serve the needs of our patients for which we are all grateful."

Mr Peter R. Kay - British Hip Society President and Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Wrightington Hospital

Appreciation award for supporting bone tissue donation

August 2010

The pre-operative assessment team at Wycombe Hospital has been awarded a certificate of appreciation from NHS Blood and Transplant Tissue Service, for their work in supporting bone tissue donation. 

High acclaim for theatre staff

July 2009

Theatre Staff at the Queens Hospital in Burton on Trent have been given their hospital’s ’Team of the Year’ award for their voluntary participation in Tissue Service’s live bone donation program. 

Tissue Bank Staff Awarded NVQs

July 2009

Twenty members of staff from Tissue Services Liverpool are celebrating after gaining an NVQ Level 2 qualification in Performing Manufacturing Operations.