Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone aged 17 or over can choose to donate their body for medical education and training. There is no upper age limit. However, registering as a donor does not guarantee that your donation can be accepted. Every donation is assessed individually after death against medical, legal and practical criteria.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that every donation can be accepted. Each donation is carefully assessed after death. Reasons why we may be unable to accept a donation include:

• certain infectious diseases
• a post-mortem examination
• recent major surgery or unhealed wounds
• severe obesity or very low body weight
• some forms of dementia
• significant swelling (oedema) or ascites
• organ donation (other than corneas)
• practical circumstances, such as medical school capacity or closure periods

If you live within the London Anatomy Office catchment area, you can download our information pack and consent forms from this website or request a copy by post. If you live outside our catchment area, you should contact the medical school responsible for your area.

The London Anatomy Office coordinates body donation across London and much of South East England, which comprises the following postal codes: BN, BR, CR, CT, DA, E, EC, EN, GU, HA, IG, KT, ME, N, NW, RH, RM, SE, SL, SM, SS, SW, TN, TW, UB, W, WC, and WD. If you live outside of our catchment area, please use https://www.hta.gov.uk/medical-schools to find the medical school closest to you.

No. Only the person wishing to donate can give valid consent. Consent can be provided by completing a body donation consent form or through a correctly worded Will that meets the requirements of the Human Tissue Act 2004. A family member, executor or someone holding Power of Attorney cannot consent to body donation on someone else's behalf after they have died.

Yes. You can register as both an organ donor and a body donor. However, if organs (other than the corneas) are donated for transplantation, we are usually unable to accept the body for anatomical examination. Cornea donation does not normally prevent body donation. If organ donation does not proceed, body donation may still be possible, provided we are contacted as soon as possible after death.

There is no legal limit on how long a donated body may be retained. When completing your consent form, you may choose to limit the period of anatomical examination to a maximum of three years. Many donations are returned sooner, sometimes within six months, depending on the educational programme.

Yes. Everyone involved in our donor programme recognises the generosity of those who choose to donate their bodies. Medical schools follow strict professional standards, and students are taught to treat every donor with dignity, care and respect throughout their learning.

When the educational programme has finished, we will arrange and pay for an individual cremation unless your family chooses to make private funeral arrangements instead. Families may choose to:

• receive the ashes; or
• have the ashes scattered in the Garden of Remembrance.

If a donation is accepted, the London Anatomy Office will arrange and cover the cost of:

• transporting the donor into our care
• the eventual cremation

Yes. Each year we hold an Annual Service of Thanksgiving to honour those who generously donated their bodies to medical education and training during the previous year. The service provides an opportunity for families, friends, students and staff to come together in remembrance and gratitude. Further information can be found on our Annual Service of Thanksgiving page.

If you remain within the London Anatomy Office catchment area, we would appreciate being informed of your new address so that our records remain up to date. If you move outside our catchment area, your consent remains valid, but you may wish to register with the medical school responsible for your new area to make arrangements easier for your family.

Earlier consent forms may still be legally valid. However, we recommend completing an updated consent form to ensure your wishes are clearly recorded and to help avoid delays when the time comes. You may also wish to include your intention to donate in your Will.

Yes. Many families choose to hold a private memorial service following the donation of their loved one's body. As we cannot predict exactly when a donor's body will be released by the medical school, memorial services often take place before the final cremation. If your family would prefer to hold a private funeral instead, the donor's body can be returned once the medical school's teaching programme has been completed. Please note that, in these circumstances, any costs associated with the return of the donor and the private funeral arrangements are the responsibility of the donor's estate or family.

Yes. You can withdraw your consent at any time by writing to us by email or post. Once we have received your request, we will remove your details from our records and securely dispose of your personal information in accordance with our data retention policies. If you decide to register again in the future, you will simply need to complete a new consent form.

We are unable to accept donations if a death occurs outside the United Kingdom. This is because body donation must take place within a limited timeframe after death, and the legal and practical arrangements involved in repatriation mean this is not usually possible. In these circumstances, your family or executors will need to make alternative funeral arrangements.

There may be occasions when we are unable to accept a donation if a death occurs during an extended closure of our partner medical schools, such as over Christmas, Easter or a Bank Holiday weekend. During these periods, it may not be possible to complete the necessary assessments and arrangements within the required timeframe. Details of any planned closures will be available on our telephone message, and our team will advise families if alternative funeral arrangements are needed.

You are welcome to tell us if you have a preferred medical school, and we will take your wishes into consideration wherever possible. However, we cannot guarantee that your donation will be allocated to a particular institution. The decision is made after death and depends on several factors, including:

• availability at the medical school
• teaching requirements
• capacity at the time of donation

No. The London Anatomy Office accepts body donations for anatomical examination and medical education. This includes teaching and training healthcare professionals such as doctors, surgeons, dentists and other clinicians. We are not able to accept donations for research into a specific medical condition or disease. If you are interested in supporting research into a particular condition, there may be other tissue or research donation programmes that are more appropriate.

Once a donor has been accepted into the care of one of our partner medical schools, it is not possible for family members or friends to visit them. We encourage families who wish to spend time with their loved one to do so before the donor is collected into our care.