BlackBerrys link organ donors, recipients in UK

A health trust in Birmingham, England, has begun a two-month trial of transplant coordination on BlackBerrys to help match liver donors to recipients as quickly as possible. With technology from application developer Airpoint, the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has created a secure, online database that transplant coordinators and surgeons can tap into and search whenever a donor organ becomes available.

"Before, the transplant coordinators and consultant surgeons needed to carry a paper copy of the liver transplant waiting list with them at all times, so they could respond immediately when an offer of a donor liver was made in order to select a suitable recipient from the waiting list," Peter Ashcroft, liver recipient transplant coordinator for the trust, told our London-based friends at E-Health Insider. IT project manager Rachel Brazier also said that the waiting list is more secure than previously because it is now stored on a secure site.

IT staff are continuing to develop the application based on user feedback, and there are plans to expand the program to other departments if the trial is successful.

For further details:
- read the E-Health Insider piece