Tissue Services

Tissue Services is part of NHS Blood and Transplant (which incorporates the National Blood Service and UK Transplant). It's role is to co-ordinate, retrieve, process, bank and supply human tissue grafts for use in surgery within the NHS.

Tissue Services operates a cost recovery system where charges for the service are made to cover the costs incurred in providing the service. No profit is made and hence we are not driven by the profit element. Our objective is to provide high quality, cost effective tissue grafts for the benefit of patients, and every effort is made to ensure the safety and efficacy of our products.

In 2005 a brand new NHSBT state-of-the-art tissue banking facility was opened at Speke on the outskirts of Liverpool, together with a new blood centre.

The tissue facility includes:

• A national donor referral centre where our team of specialist nurses receive donor referrals, approach potential donor families in order to discuss the options of donation, and complete the consent and donor screening process to allow assessment of the donor in compliance with UK legislation and European Directives.
• An operating theatre standard tissue retrieval suite where tissues can be obtained to the highest possible standards.
• The facility includes 14 cleanrooms all capable of operating to class B air quality, and 27 class II microbiological safety cabinets operating at class A standard. All clean rooms and cabinets have continuous air particle monitoring technology.
• Within the centre are more than 50 ultra low temperature freezers for tissue storage, and a cryopreservation suite for long term banking of viable grafts in vapour phase liquid nitrogen.
• Research and Development is supported by numerous universities within the UK. A tissue development laboratory within the Speke facility, together with a GMP (good manufacturing practice) Technology Transfer Centre completes the chain from novel idea to novel tissue graft. Our facility is fully equipped to exploit developments in cell culture and tissue engineering and deliver advantages from these technologies to patients.
• In addition to these tissue-specific facilities, the new centre has an infrastructure that supports both the tissues and blood banking functions. This includes a Quality Assurance department, who conduct regular GMP audits, and who provide a final and independent inspection and sign off of all grafts and processes. The on-site medical staff are expert in donor selection and testing and provide medical oversight of all tissue donors.
• The building is highly secure and different levels of security access are used for areas of higher sensitivity.
• All critical physical parameters within the facility are continuously monitored using a sophisticated environmental monitoring system to ensure that tissues are stored and handled appropriately. This includes monitoring of particle levels in clean rooms, tissue storage temperatures, and many other important criteria.
• A Consultant Specialist in Tissue Services, supported by a Clinical Team, develops clinical policy and input into all aspects of tissue services including the development of User and Focus groups of surgeons to ensure the efficacy, and clinical relevance of Tissue Services products and services. Recent initiatives include development and implementation.
• The end result is a facility, which ranks amongst the best in the world. It is staffed with highly trained dedicated doctors, scientists, technicians, nurses, and all levels of support staff. This combination of a motivated professional workforce within a state-of-the-art facility ensures our commitment to safety, quality and efficacy of all our tissue grafts.