Our position on organ donation
Nearly 7,000 people in the UK are waiting for a kidney transplant, whilst according to NHS figures, in 2024/25, only 3,302 adult kidney transplants were performed in the UK.
Just 32% of patients receive a transplant within a year of joining the waiting list and six people die every week whilst waiting.
Patients who experience kidney failure require life-long dialysis treatment or a transplant to survive. When taking into account survival rates, rehabilitation, quality of life and cost, transplant is the best option.
However, transplants are not a cure, a transplant from a deceased donor lasts on average 10-15 years, whilst a kidney from a living donor lasts on average 20-25 years.
If or when the transplant fails the patient will need a further transplant or require dialysis. Kidney Research UK is committed to funding vital research into improving the longevity and effectiveness of transplants, and to helping more organs be made available for transplant.
Thanks to our collaboration with the British Transplant Society and NHS Blood and Transplant we have established the UK Organ Donation and Research Network (UKODTRN). The network gives teams and researchers a platform to work in a coordinated and collaborative way. By bringing together patients, scientists, clinicians and other stakeholders, we are aiming to increase the number of organs available for transplant, ensure donated organs are used in the most effective way and ultimately improve outcomes for kidney transplant patients.
In 2024, and thanks to philanthropic funding, we launched the Robert Dangoor Partnership for Living Kidney Donation. Delivered together with the Give A Kidney charity, the partnership aims to increase the number of people who are willing to become living kidney donors whilst supporting them through their donation journey. www.donateakidney.co.uk
Organ donation: the law
The law around organ donation consent is set by the devolved nations:
Laws have now been introduced in Wales (2015), England (2020), Scotland (2021) and Northern Ireland (2022) which rely on an ‘opt out’ system. All adults are considered to be a potential organ donor when they die unless they have opted out through the NHS Organ Donation Register. Families still play a crucial role in consent and so it remains vital that people share their wishes with loved ones.
Improving donation rates
Our 2023 report into the health economics of kidney disease found that increasing the rate of transplantation would be a cost-saving measure for the NHS, proving to be more cost effective per patient than dialysis treatment, with this finding becoming a key recommendation.
Our charity strategy sets out our commitment to transforming treatments for people with kidney failure, including improving rates of transplantation and the importance of research that improves long-term outcomes and reduces the risk of complications.
We would like to see further measures introduced to boost organ donation rates including:
- Improving infrastructure and clinical practice to ensure organs are made available for transplant
- More research to discover ways of making transplanted kidneys work better and last longer as well as reducing the risk of complications
- Improved health equality. Stigma, myths and perceived religious obstacles to organ donation currently lead to significant numbers of families refusing to support donation after a loved one has died, particularly among minority ethnic groups. These groups are at higher risk of kidney disease and so are over-represented on the organ transplant waiting list.
Non-directed donation
The number of people choosing to become a living donor is growing and through the Robert Dangoor Partnership for Living Kidney Donation we work with both directed and non-directed donors.
A non-directed donor, sometimes called altruistic donation, will donate their kidney which goes either to an unknown individual who is waiting for a transplant, or into the NHS Sharing Scheme, which brings together pairs of donors and recipients to enable the best tissue matches.
All donors will go through thorough medical assessments to ensure they are fit to donate but the procedure is safe and the body only actually needs one functioning kidney to live healthily.
Non-directed donation is an important addition in the fight to make more kidneys available for transplant and one which we fully support.
Payment for organ donation
It is illegal in the UK for someone to receive payment for a kidney donation.
As charity we would not support any proposal to pay living donors.
The decision to become a living organ donor is personal and should not be motivated, influenced or incentivised by the prospect of financial gain.
We believe paid provision could result in the abuse and exploitation of people who are in a vulnerable position, for example, people in debt, out of work or under duress.
The alternatives
Our focus is on increasing organ donation rates and reducing the number of people who die while waiting for a kidney transplant.
We will continue to fund research to find new treatments for kidney disease.
At the beginning of 2022, researchers in the USA carried out a transplant involving an animal organ. While we will of course watch developments with interest, this area of research is not currently licenced in the UK.
Reviewed July 2025