The UK’s first dedicated stem cell donor centre has opened at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre, offering 1,300 extra donation slots each year and new hope for patients battling blood cancers. Run by Anthony Nolan with the NIHR, the facility is set to transform transplant access, ensuring more matches are collected on time and lives are saved. Donors and survivors alike are calling it a “game-changer” — proof that a single act of kindness can truly be the gift of life.
The UK’s first dedicated stem cell collection centre has officially opened at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre, marking a major step forward in the fight against blood cancers and disorders. Run by the charity Anthony Nolan in partnership with the NIHR Nottingham Clinical Research Facility, the new unit will create up to 1,300 additional donation slots each year, helping address a global shortage of collection facilities that has left many patients waiting for life-saving transplants.
Jordan, a 28-year-old from London, was among the first to donate at the new centre. After joining the Anthony Nolan stem cell register nine years ago with a simple saliva swab, he was matched to a stranger in need. “I’m proud and happy because today I could save someone’s life,” he said. The donation process involves a machine filtering blood to extract stem cells, usually over five hours, before the cells are quickly transported to patients.
Anthony Nolan currently supports more than 1,000 UK transplants each year, with cells also sent abroad to hundreds more patients. However, the charity says demand has often outstripped capacity, meaning only one in five donors could previously give on the exact date requested by doctors. Missing these critical windows can leave patients in life-threatening situations. Nicola Alderson, the charity’s chief operating officer, described the new centre as a “game-changer”, adding that each bag of collected stem cells is “a bag of magic” that has the power to save a life.
For patients like Raj, a 32-year-old cancer survivor who received a transplant in 2020, the centre represents hope for others facing similar battles. He praised the facility as a “brilliant set-up” and urged more young people to join the donor register. “We need more,” he said. “It is the ultimate act of kindness.”
