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• Reporting a Serious Adverse Event or Reaction(SAEARs)
• Reporting a HTA Reportable Incident (HTARI)

It is mandatory for relevant clinicians in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to report:

• a reasonable suspicion that an organ donation and transplantation related offence may have been committed under the Human Tissue Act or Modern Slavery legislation, and

• a patient who has received an organ transplant outside the UK.

Further information on how to report is on our professional guidance for travelling for organ transplantation page.

The HTA does not offer specific training. We do, however, provide information and advice on our website, including:

• HTA’s Codes of Practice and standards
• Guidance for professionals
• Useful information for DIs and named contacted
• Our governing legislation

We have also developed a series of quizzes on the fundamental requirements of the Human Tissue Act 2004 (HT Act) and the Human Tissue (Quality and Safety for Human Application) Regulations 2007 (Q&S Regulations).

The purpose of these tests is to provide you with a useful resource to test your knowledge on our governing legislation: HTA legislation

The Medical Research Council’s Regulatory Support Centre has e-learning modules on the HT Act. The Health Research Authority’s e-learning package on research involving human tissue is available on their website. Both were developed with input from the HTA.

It is a legal requirement to inform the HTA of any changes to your licence or contact details. This ensures we can reach the Designated Individual (DI) and Licence Holder (LH) or Corporate Licence Holder contact (CLHc). 

Please check the guidance on the how to make changes to your licence page. 

Find out about applying for a licence in the licensing section of this website.

Find practical guidance for professionals carrying our activity under the HTA's remit in our codes of practice section of this website. 

If you have a concern about the way that the HTA or a member of our staff has exercised or failed to exercise our functions, you can complain to the HTA by contacting us via the contact the HTA form.

You will need to supply us with a name and a contact email or phone number. We will also need details of your complaint, and any supporting documentation.

Once we receive a complaint, our Complaints Officer will arrange for an investigation to take place.

The time taken to conduct an investigation may vary depending on the urgency and complexity of the complaint. However, we will acknowledge receipt of all complaints within three 3 working days and respond to complaints within 20 working days. If we cannot respond within this timeframe, we will inform you and tell you when a response will be due.

If you are dissatisfied with our final response, you can requests a review, which will be completed within 20 working days

Further information about how we handle complaints about the HTA can be found in the HTA’s complaints policy and Standard Operating Procedure. 

If you have a concern about an establishment we license, please contact us via the contact the HTA form supplying us with a name and a contact email or phone number.

We will also need the establishment’s name, your concern, and any supporting documentation.

You don't have to tell us who you are when you report a concern but if you don't it may make it more difficult for us to take forward the investigation.

If an investigation does take place, the HTA may be required to disclose your name, even if you asked for it to be withheld, however we will do our best avoid that.

When a concern is raised by an employee of an organisation (or ‘whistleblower’) about practices taking place, we will give them appropriate support and advice and their interests will be protected as far as possible.

Our investigation

The HTA will establish whether there has been a breach of our standards and take action where necessary. We will first assess any concerns we receive about organisations to determine whether the matter is within the HTA’s remit

It may be that a concern raised with us does not fall within our remit. If this is the case, we will inform the person who raised the concern, and offer advice about other organisations that may be able to take the matter forward, for example:

1. Health watchdogs and authorities: these organisations oversee health and social care in England.
2. Health professional regulators: these organisations set the standards of behaviour, education and ethics that health professionals must meet.
3. Advertising Standards Authority: regulates advertising across all media.
4. Citizens Advice Bureau: offers advice about consumer rights, including how to contact Trading Standards.

If the matter is within our remit, we will assess the risk that it poses and investigate.

The time taken to conduct an investigation may vary depending on the urgency and complexity of the concern raised. However, we will acknowledge receipt within three working days and aim to respond to your concern within 20 working days. Where this is not possible, we will let you know when a response will be due.

How we handle allegations

You can down load our allegation policy document for more information.

We do not handle body donation requests. If you want to donate your body to medical science, you'll need to contact medical schools directly.

Each medical school has its own rules about accepting donations. You can find their contact details in the medical schools section of our website. 

Note: The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) regulates organisations that handle human tissue - we cannot help with individual donation requests.

Our role is to make sure that these organisations remove, store, and use brains, bodies and tissues in an appropriate, respectful and well-managed way, and that the wishes of individual patients and their families are respected. 

Read our medical schools and body donation FAQs

Find out more about donating a tissue or organ in the deceased organ and tissue donation for transplants section of our website.