Britain's blood service is committed to spirit of altruism among donors

EDITOR,—Ann Oakley raises a moot academic point in her editorial about whether Titmuss's survey of people's reasons for donating blood needs to be repeated.1 Unfortunately, her superficially interesting hypothesis is undermined by its construction around a series of allegations that do not stand up to even minimal analysis.

Not all blood services are “in a mess.” The National Blood Service in Britain, which is recognised as among the finest and the safest in the world, goes from strength to strength, meeting hospitals' …