Transplant record equalled at Belfast hospital

A Belfast hospital has equalled the UK record for transplant operations carried out in one day after successfully completing five kidney transplants.

Belfast City Hospital saw the first transplant get underway at 1.30am on Sunday September 13, and the last one finish at 11pm that evening. A team of 14 doctors, 20 nurses and three scientists were involved in the operations, while several operating nurses came into work on their day off to help facilitate such a huge undertaking.

The five recipients, aged between 41 and 56 had been on long-term dialysis with end stage kidney failure from a range of causes, including type 1 diabetes.

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust was allocated five kidneys from across the NHS on Saturday 12 September with several operating nurses coming into work on their day off to help facilitate the huge undertaking.

Speaking about the procedures, transplant surgeon Tim Brown said the patients had received a “phenomenal gift allowing them to undergo a dramatic life transformation.” His colleague James McDaid explained that normally the hospital undertakes one transplant a week and described the fact that they managed to complete five successful transplants in 24 hours as “something quite extraordinary.”