Organ Utilisation Development Team
The Organ Utilisation Development Team (OUDT) aims to increase overall organ utilisation from deceased donors across the UK.
The OUDT leads the national Clinical Lead for Utilisation (CLU) scheme. As a team, we aspire to support the delivery of much-needed improvements within the field of organ utilisation, for the benefit of all.
We aspire to foster a culture of shared learning and collaboration and are excited by our role in shaping the future of organ utilisation in the UK and internationally.
For further information or enquiries relating to organ utilisation, please email the OUDT team.
Our vision
Supporting colleagues to make the best use of every precious organ offered, to achieve maximum positive impact on patients.
Our mission
We work together to increase the number of people positively impacted by increased organ utilisation, through the dissemination of data and information, and the sharing of knowledge and expertise across our clinical community.
Membership
Members of the OUDT include:
- Chris Callaghan – Associate Medical Director, Organ Utilisation
- Vicky Gerovasili – National Cardiothoracic Lead CLU and Lead Lung CLU
- Nick Inston – National Abdominal Lead CLU and Lead Kidney CLU
- Carrie Scuffell – Transplant Development Manager, Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation
- Laura Barton – Programme Manager, Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation
- Jenny Mehew – Principal Statistician, Organ Donation and Transplantation Studies
- David van Dellen – Lead Pancreas CLU
- Anya Adair – Lead Liver CLU
- Andrew Morley-Smith – Lead Heart CLU
Clinical Leads for Utilisation
The Clinical Leads for Utilisation (CLU) scheme comprises a network of senior transplant clinicians across the UK, empowered to report and address barriers to organ utilisation.
Recommendation 3 of the February 2023 Organ Utilisation Group (OUG) report, 'Honouring the gift of donation’, specifically sought the establishment of organ-specific CLUs at every transplant centre, to:
- improve organ utilisation across solid organs, implementing new interventions to deliver improvements at both a local and national level
- disseminate best practice in organ utilisation and improve equity of access across all centres
- ensure additional activity can be sustained within local transplant centres, as visions of increasing donation rates and organ utilisations are realised
- drive improved organ utilisation through organ utilisation research
The CLU scheme began in November 2020 and has gone from strength to strength since this time.
The CLU handbook and role description, which provide more detail regarding the role, objectives and deliverables, can be downloaded here:
Number of CLU posts
Across the UK, there are:
- 53 local CLUs
- 5 organ lead CLUs
- 5 organ communities
Of the CLU posts, 24 are for kidney, 8 for liver, 8 for pancreas, 7 for heart and 6 for lung.
CLU newsletters
Every six months, we send a newsletter to CLUs, sharing news and updates to support the organ utilisation community.
You can access previous newsletters here:
Offer review schemes
The offer review schemes (ORS) provide a weekly report of any High Quality Donor (HQD) offers that are declined by transplanting centres. These include heart, lung, kidney, liver and pancreas transplant offers.
Organ Lead CLUs review the decline data and liaise with the transplanting centre to understand the circumstances and reasons leading to the decline. The offer decline reports are shared with centres to encourage learning, help identify missed opportunities and reduce barriers to transplantation.
Organ utilisation meetings
Local CLUs oversee the organ utilisation meetings that take place within each transplant centre.
In line with the OUG recommendation 3 (‘Decline meetings in transplant units must be established as a mandatory requirement along with a nationally agreed profile and template’), a standardised framework has been produced for local organ utilisation meetings across all heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplant units.
This is available here: POL417/1 – Organ Utilisation Group Local Organ Utilisation Meetings Standardised Framework (PDF 139KB)
National Organ Utilisation Conference
The National Organ Utilisation Conference (NOUC) is an annual event held by NHSBT and provides an opportunity for CLUs to showcase their work towards improving organ utilisation.
Find out about the next event and access the presentation slides from previous years.