A St Helier Hospital patient has become the first person to receive a new pioneering kidney transplant.

The transplant technique – only available at a handful of hospitals in Europe – allows surgeons to transplant a kidney from donor to recipient, even if their blood types do not match.

The transplant team at St George’s Hospital Tooting performed the surgery on Steve Purcell – a renal patient at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton.

Mr Purcell, from West End in Surrey, said: “Being able to operate even though there is a blood group difference is a major step forward, and opens the door for many more people to access this life-changing operation.

“Thanks to the transplant I am looking forward to living a normal, active life and hopefully I am the first of many to have a transplant at St George’s using this pioneering technique.

“The transplant has gone amazingly smoothly and I am eternally grateful to my donor and to the transplant team at St George’s.”

Consultant transplant surgeon for St George’s, Nicos Kessaris – who led the first operation – said: “This is a significant milestone for St George’s and the result of a team effort across the South West Thames Renal Transplant Network.

“Through this technique we will be able to improve patient care by performing more transplants in the future.”

Renal consultant and medical director for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust Dr Jonathan Kwan said: “This is fantastic news for renal patients in the area.

“Finding out you need a kidney transplant is an incredibly daunting thing to face for anyone, so anything that can increase or speed up the number of transplants is a huge benefit to patients.”

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