6 March 2019

Royal Papworth Hospital won a top transplant award at the British Transplantation Society Annual Congress 2019 today.

The hospital picked up the accolade for ‘Excellence in Organ Retrieval’ at the ‘Inaugural UK Awards for Excellence in Organ Donation and Retrieval’. 

Transplant Consultant Dr Jas Parmar collected the award, with judges praising the ‘entire hospital staff for a number of reasons, not least completing five transplants in 36 hours’.

The 'Famous Five' received between them two hearts, two sets of lungs and one single lung across two days of continuous cardiothoracic transplantation in February 2018.

Other achievements during the year included a world record in the number of adult donation after circulatory death (DCD) heart retrievals, resulting in a 40% increase in the number of patients who have benefitted from transplantation, leading to a significant reduction in the hospital’s heart transplant waiting list. 

The BTS Congress, jointly run with NHS Blood and Transplant, is taking place in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, from 6-8 March 2019. 

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register, please telephone 0300 123 23 23, or go to www.organdonation.nhs.uk or www.organdonationscotland.org to register online.