Survey of Patient’s Experience of Altruistic Nondirected Kidney Donation

Abstract

The scarcity of organs for donation is an ongoing issue. Change in legislative framework allows for altruistic donations in the UK, but, whereas the number of donations from deceased donors has increased, there has been a slow decline in altruistic living donors. The aim of this study was to review perspectives of altruistic nondirected kidney donors (ANDKD) at our center and outcome of all enquiries to inform service improvement and increase the numbers of donors. All enquiries by potential ANDKD at our center from September 2005 to September 2017 were analyzed. Donor assessment was performed as per the UK Guidelines, prior to obtaining Human Tissue Authority approval. The outcome of donation and results of questionnaires sent to 50 ANDKD were analyzed. During the period, 51 of the 180 enquiries (28.3%) resulted in kidney donation. Questionnaire responses were: 66% donors were retired; most heard about altruistic donation through media (60%); 72% thought psychological or psychiatric assessment was necessary; 95% found the information provided prior to donation adequate; 82% rated their overall experience as good/excellent; and 90% would recommend kidney donation to others. Thirteen of 50 donated kidneys were fed into the kidney exchange program. The mean ± standard error of the mean of the duration from human tissue authority approval to donation were 60.4 ± 5.4 and 131.2 ± 11.2 days, respectively (P = 0.00001). A significant proportion of enquiries for altruistic donation would result in donation but the assessment process needs to be quicker. ANDKD is useful way of priming the National Living Donor Kidney Sharing Scheme.