Amniotic membrane / placenta donation

Only mothers who have had their baby safely delivered by elective caesarean section can donate these tissues. Donation is entirely voluntary and will not interfere with the delivery of your baby. If you wish to donate, a trained Specialist Tissue Donation Nurse or Health Care Professional will ask you:

• Some questions about your medical history
• To provide a blood sample

Unfortunately, donation is currently not possible for every hospital.

Also, there are certain illnesses and lifestyle practices which exclude some mothers from donating. A representative from NHSBT will be able to discuss this with you and assess your suitability during your routine antenatal classes.

Currently we work in partnership with the maternity staff and NHS Cord Blood Bank staff at:

• University College Hospital (UCH) in London
• Luton and Dunstable Hospital in Bedfordshire

During your routine antenatal classes, an NHSBT health care professional may discuss the option of donation with you and ask you to complete a questionnaire to register your interest. You will then be contacted further to discuss donation and proceed with the consenting process. 

If you wish to donate, a trained NHSBT Specialist Nurse or Health Care Professional will ask you:

• Some questions about your medical history
• To consent to the donation
  To provide a blood sample

No blood is ever needed from your baby.

If donation goes ahead, after the safe delivery of your baby the whole placenta and umbilical cord will be taken and any tissue not required would be discarded. A sample of your blood will be taken on the day prior to your caeserean section.

Following a successful donation, your blood sample will be tested for blood borne diseases in the same way as during blood donation.

If your donation is to be used for clinical transplantation, we may need you to have a second blood sample taken approximately six months after the delivery of your baby. For medical or other reasons it sometimes may not be possible to accept your donation.

Once collected, your donation would be transferred to our specialised tissue facility when the tissue will be processed in preparation for transplantation.

Amniotic membrane can be used as a graft and as a dressing. It is particularly useful for eye reconstruction surgery.