Donate Your Body
Bequest of a body for anatomical examination, education or training.
Our licence from the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) allows us to perform anatomical examinations on donated bodies, and store and use them for the purposes of education, training, and research at Newcastle University School of Medicine and Sunderland University School of Medicine. The licences also permit surgical training at Newcastle Surgical Training Centre at the Freeman Hospital.
Our network
They include the University of Sunderland, and Newcastle Surgical Training Centre at the Freeman Hospital.
We also work with other medical schools and departments.
This ensures that we can use as many donations as possible.
We may also direct your bequest to another facility licensed by the Human Tissue Authority.
Make a bequest
We can only accept donations with the consent of the donor in writing which also needs to be witnessed.
To make a bequest, please request a bequest pack containing all the necessary information and consent forms, which can be posted or emailed:
Bequeathal Coordinator
School of Medicine
Newcastle University
Framlington Place
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 4HH
Tel no: 0191 208 6616
Email: anatomy.bequests@ncl.ac.uk
If you need the information provided in other formats for example, large print, verbally or translated, please contact us.
Bequest registration
Please read the bequest pack carefully and discuss your intentions with your next of kin or executor so that they can carry out your wishes after your death.
If you wish to donate your body for anatomical examination, education and training, you should sign the bequest forms within the pack, in the presence of a witness. Witnesses may include a spouse/partner, next-of-kin, executor, friend or solicitor.
Read more
You should return one copy to the Bequeathal Secretary so that we can include your name in our register of potential donors. You should keep the second copy.
It is not possible to guarantee the acceptance of any bequest at any time. The main reasons for non-acceptance are if:
- there has to be a Coroner's post mortem
- a person dies abroad
- there is a severe infection (e.g. hepatitis, tuberculosis, HIV, MRSA, septicaemia)
- a person has Alzheimer's disease or senile dementia of unknown cause
- a person has had a recent operation where the wound has not healed
- a person has bed sores, varicose ulcers, oedema
It is possible to consider bequests from donors who have cancer.
Procedure at the time of death
Your executor or next of kin should telephone the Bequeathal Coordinator (0191 208 6616) as soon as possible after the death occurs.
We are open Monday to Friday during normal office hours. Please note that the office is closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and bank holidays including Christmas and Easter.
For deaths occurring over a weekend or in the evening, you should make arrangements to move the body to a funeral director with refrigeration facilities. Then telephone us on the next working day.
There is a voicemail system at the office and next of kin should follow the recorded instructions. The offer of the bequest will be considered immediately when the office reopens. Unfortunately, no guarantee can be given that a bequest will be accepted.