Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Views & Reviews Personal View

The blood service should ask donors about practice, not just partners

BMJ 2011; 343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d5793 (Published 14 September 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d5793

Rapid Response:

Safety of donated blood

There is obviously no shortage of controversy regarding the issue of
which members of society should be barred from donating blood, for how
long and how questions should be asked in order to screen out those who
may pose a risk of introducing transmissable blood-borne infections to to
the UKs blood supplies. If the risks are still that significant then if
the National blood service were really to do, as Matthew Sothern puts it,
all it could to ensure the safety of blood, should it not be considering
the introduction of PCR testing of donated blood for infectious agents
rather than be perpetually debating the minutiae of whom to turn away.

Competing interests: No competing interests

23 September 2011
Kevin D Johnston
Consultant Anaesthetist
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust