This means some donors might not be eligible on the day but may be in the future. “All donors will now be asked about sexual behaviours which might have increased their risk of infection, particularly recently acquired infections. “We screen all donations for evidence of significant infections, which goes hand-in-hand with donor selection to maintain the safety of blood sent to hospitals. This change is about switching around how we assess the risk of exposure to a sexual infection, so it is more tailored to the individual. Stolen dog rescued by police as she was giving birthĮlla Poppitt, chief nurse for blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do.
Furthermore, donors will now be given a more individual-based risk assessment. By 2011, the ban was changed to a three month abstention, but campaigners argued that the policy was still discriminatory and wasted blood. This means that gay individuals who have been in a relationship for than 3 months will be able to give blood. The ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood was first introduced in the 1980s, when the UK was in the throes of the AIDS crisis and little was known about how HIV and AIDS was transmitted. Family's warning as Darcy, 17, died after secret mental health battle The NHS Blood Service announced a landmark policy change that allows gay men to donate blood more easily.Instead, any individual who attends to give blood regardless of gender will be asked if they have had sex and, if so, about recent sexual behaviours, it added.Īnyone who has had the same sexual partner for the last three months will be eligible to donate, allowing more gay and bisexual men to give blood products, it added.
New eligibility rules - in force from today - mean that donors in England, Scotland and Wales will no longer be asked if they are a man who has had sex with another man, NHS Blood and Transplant said. “Patients rely on the generosity of donors for their lifesaving blood and so we welcome the decision to accept the FAIR recommendations in full,” Su Brailsford, associate medical director at the U.K.’s National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the governmental body that will implement the new guidance, said in a statement.More gay and bisexual men will be allowed to donate blood, platelets and plasma after “historic” new rules came into effect this week. The rollout plans for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not yet known.
If a gay or bisexual man becomes a blood donor following the three. Sexually active gay and bisexual men who fall under the new guidelines will be able to donate blood in England by summer 2021. NHSBT manages the British Bone Marrow Registry (BBMR), which recruits from blood donors. After two years of research, the group proposed a move to identify a wider range of risk behaviors that apply to all donors, according to the U.K.’s Department of Health and Social Care. The move has been welcomed by campaigners.
If an individual has been previously deferred from donating blood, that individual will need to call the Donor and Client Support Center at 1-86 to confirm eligibility before coming to donate. Gay and bisexual men will be able to donate blood more easily from next summer following a landmark policy change, the NHS blood service has announced. This means that a man whose last sexual contact with another man was more than 4 months ago will be eligible to donate if he meets the other donor selection. The new criteria was born out of a report by the “For Assessment of Individualised Risk” (FAIR) steering committee, a collaboration of British blood services and LGBTQ nonprofits. Men who have not had sex with another man in more than 3 months are not deferred by the MSM guidance and may be eligible to donate blood. The criteria will apply to all people interested in giving blood, regardless of their gender, their partner’s gender or the sexual activity in which they engage. A health check questionnaire completed prior to donating will be used to assess eligibility and safety. Under the new guidelines, donors who have had only one sexual partner for more than three months will be eligible to give blood.