Bristol social enterprise provides organ kits for the NHS

A charity is giving people with learning disabilities and autism the opportunity to gain paid employment while providing a “vital” service.

Enterprise Packaging is a Bristol-based organization that packs transplant recovery kits for the NHS. It is run by the charity, Brandon Trust.

Staff assemble and pack the kits before they are sent to 16 NHS organ collection teams across the country.

Employee Becky said: “(It’s great) to be able to get paid for the job and it’s good to have a job that helps people who need transplants. It means a lot to us as a team.”

Becky worked for the Brandon Trust for 20 years.

The organization offers people with learning disabilities paid work to pack kits, in a way that can be difficult with most companies, and operates from the Vassall Center in Fishponds, Bristol.

Marti works one day a week at Enterprise Packaging and has done so for seven years.

He is a fan of Chelsea football, often coming to work in the club jacket.

“I love working with everyone here and packing the kits,” he said.

“It’s good that I’m getting paid.”

Part of the ethos of Enterprise Packaging is that employees work to take on more responsibility.

Becky is responsible for ordering the lymph vessels and spleens that are part of the kits, and Marti is responsible for doing the end-of-day checks, including making sure the machines are turned off and the shelves are tidy.

Another team member performs quality control.

“Trust increases a hundredfold for people who come here,” said project coordinator Alex Bird.

“They’re not always sure how their skills could help, but actually their skills are a real bonus here.

“Their attention to detail and driven processes and the repetitiveness of the work really works for them, so they feel proud and like they’ve achieved something, which is fantastic.”

Cecelia McIntyre, NHS Blood and Transplant project lead for collection and transplant, said: “For national organ collection teams across the country, these packs are vital to their work.

“They contain vital components and make the job much easier.”

But perhaps it was the quality of the team’s work that impressed Ms McIntyre the most.

“We’ve had a 15-year relationship with the Brandon Trust and in that time we’ve never known these packages to be incorrect or damaged,” she said.

“It’s pretty amazing, really.”