Environmental Impact Assessment - Assessment and Recovery Centres

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is developing a national programme of Assessment and Recovery Centres (ARCs), specialised facilities that will bring together and implement ex situ machine perfusion techniques at the centre of a national network across the UK. Marginal organs from deceased donors will be retrieved and assessed for transplantation, extending their viability between donation and transplantation. ARCs would enable identification and preservation of marginal or higher risk organs that can be optimised for successful transplantation. In the future, organ function could also be transformed and organs repaired.

We anticipate the introduction of a national ARC service will have a net positive impact on the NHS’ carbon footprint, and wider health economy (e.g. through reduction in dialysis interventions) and an environmental assessment will help us to better understand our impact against the status quo.

The aim of the ARCs environmental impact assessment is threefold:

1. Assess the overall impact of the proposed national ARC service on the health economy from an environmental sustainability perspective.
2. A comprehensive comparison of the potential impact of the ARCs programme with the ‘as is’ or status quo, to clearly articulate the impact of delivering a national ARCs programme on the overall NHS’ carbon footprint.
3. Assess the environmental implications of changes to clinical pathways and models within the proposed ARCs service. This will include identifying areas of positive and negative change, and identifying a suite of options and recommendations, to support the service to minimise its carbon footprint throughout the delivery and implementation phase of the programme.