Specialist Nurse in Tissue Donation

Job summary

It takes all types to save and improve lives. As a Specialist Nurse in Tissue Donation, you will play a vital role in helping patients receive life-changing tissue donations while supporting families through some of their most difficult moments. Working within the National Referral Centre, you will assess donor suitability, obtain informed consent, provide expert clinical advice, and help increase tissue donation opportunities.

You will work closely with healthcare professionals across a range of organisations, lead and support colleagues, and contribute to service improvement and clinical excellence. This is a rewarding opportunity to use your nursing expertise in a highly specialised field where your knowledge, compassion and decision-making skills will directly contribute to saving and improving lives

Main duties of the job

• Support tissue donation activity within the National Referral Centre and provide leadership support when senior managers are unavailable.
• Communicate sensitively with bereaved families to obtain informed consent for tissue donation.
• Assess the suitability of deceased and living tissue donors, making evidence-based clinical decisions.
• Provide specialist advice and guidance to healthcare professionals on tissue donation programmes.
• Manage and prioritise referrals, ensuring donation processes are coordinated effectively within critical timeframes.
• Maintain accurate donor records and ensure compliance with mandatory donor selection requirements.
• Support clinical audits, service improvements and the implementation of changes to practice and documentation.
• Coach, mentor and support nursing colleagues, assistant practitioners and students.
• Ensure compliance with NHSBT policies, quality standards, the Human Tissue Act and relevant legislation.
• Contribute to achieving tissue donation and consent targets while promoting high-quality patient and family care.

About us

It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, you'll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary- donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need.

Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do. By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever.

You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.

Details

• Date posted: 28 August 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 6
• Salary: £39,959 to £48,117 a year
• Contract: Fixed term
• Duration: 12 months
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Reference number: 009282
• Job locations: NHSBT, Liverpool Centre, 14 Estuary Banks, The Estuary Commerce Park, Liverpool, United Kingdom, L24 8RB, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

What we offer:

Flexible working options – we promote flexible working where the role allows. We’re happy to discuss what flexibility might look like for you.

Generous annual leave - 27 days annual leave (pro rata for part-time) plus Bank Holidays, increasing to 29 days after 5 years’ service and to 33 days after 10 years.

Inclusive pension scheme - the NHS Pension Scheme is a defined benefit scheme (not dependent on investment returns). Further details and outline of benefits can be found at: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/information-about-nhs-pensions‎

Supportive learning culture - we’ve fostered a culture of continuous learning where colleagues are well-led, engaged, and encouraged to grow. We support you in reaching your full potential, both in your current role and future career. Our Thrive program embodies our commitment to learning and development, offering a wide range of activities to support your personal and professional growth. It’s open to everyone at NHSBT, ensuring you have the resources to succeed and shine in your role.

Health and wellbeing support – we offer confidential services including occupational health, employee assistance programme, and wellbeing resources. Our support is available to all colleagues and we endeavour to provide tailored workplace adjustments where possible.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applications from disabled candidates. We will talk with you to explore any adjustments that may help you during the recruitment process.

You can find more information about accessibility, our culture, and how we support applicants on the NHSBT Careers website:

Read about our application process

Learn more about our culture at NHSBT

To learn more, please see the job description and person specification. These can be accessed via the link below, or by clicking ‘Apply’ if you are viewing this advert on another site.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).