Tissue Services

Large-scale tissue banking in the UK began as a collaboration between the Leeds General Infirmary and the Bacteriology Department of Leeds University, in the early 1950's (see references below). The Leeds bank expanded and outgrew its facility such that in 1965 a Yorkshire Regional Tissue Bank was established in Wakefield. In the mid 1990's the National Blood Service established two tissue banks in the south of the country, in London and Cambridge. Around the same time, another large tissue bank was established in Wrexham. These were the four largest multi-tissue banks in the country; and in the late 1990's they decided to join forces to provide a single comprehensive service throughout the whole country, within the National Blood Service. In 2005, a brand new, state of the art, tissue bank facility was opened in Liverpool; and the tissue processing work that had previously been carried out in the four separate banks was transferred to this "super centre". Co-incidentally, NBS also joined forces with UKT in 2005 to form NHS Blood and Transplant. This organisation now supplies a comprehensive and integrated blood, organ and tissue service to the NHS.