Skip to main content

Donate Your Body

Bequest of a body for anatomical examination, education or training.

Our license from the Human Tissue Authority allows us to perform anatomical examinations on donated bodies. We may also store and use the bodies for the purposes of education, training and research. This would be at Newcastle Medical School and our satellite sites. 

Our network

They include the University of Sunderland, Newcastle Surgical Training Centre at the Freeman Hospital, and the Temporal Bone Laboratory at James Cook University Hospital Middlesbrough.

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. To make a bequest, please request a bequest pack containing all the necessary information and consent forms from:

The Bequeathal Secretary School of Medicine Newcastle University
Framlington Place
Newcastle upon Tyne

Tel No: 0191 208 6616 or 0191 208 6969

Email: anatomy.bequests@ncl.ac.uk

Download a bequest info pack

Bequest registration

You should read through the bequest pack and discuss your wishes with your next-of-kin/executor. They will then know your intentions and can carry out your wishes after your death.

To register your bequest, you will need to complete two Bequest Consent Forms in the presence of a witness. Witnesses may include 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

A death should be notified to the Bequeathal Secretary by telephone as soon as possible, during normal office hours.

We are open Monday-Friday on 0191 208 6616.

We will make a decision on the acceptance of any bequests as quickly as possible.

For deaths occurring over a weekend, you should make arrangements to move the body to a local funeral director. They should have refrigeration facilities. Then telephone us on the next working day.