Blood: Donors
(asked on 26th June 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of blood donors with Ro blood type have had their donations deferred in the last 12 months; and what was the reason for those deferrals.
Between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025, the number of Ro blood type donor attendances was 59,655. Of those, 9,978, or 16.7%, were deferred. The following table show the number of Ro donor deferrals, the percentage of Ro donor attendances, and the percentage of total Ro deferrals, broken down by the reason for deferral:
Reason | Number of Ro donor deferrals | Percentage of Ro donor attendances | Percentage of total Ro deferrals |
Administrative | 284 | 0.5% | 2.8% |
Blood Pressure | 53 | 0.1% | 0.5% |
Clinical | 89 | 0.1% | 0.9% |
Haemoglobin | 6,806 | 11.4% | 68.2% |
Infection / contact | 509 | 0.9% | 5.1% |
Medical | 1,393 | 2.3% | 14.0% |
Other | 40 | 0.1% | 0.4% |
Skin piercing | 239 | 0.4% | 2.4% |
Surgery | 113 | 0.2% | 1.1% |
Travel | 183 | 0.3% | 1.8% |
Vaccination | 46 | 0.1% | 0.5% |
No suitable vein | 223 | 0.4% | 2.2% |
Total | 9,978 | 16.7% | 100% |
Note: this data refers to whole blood donors only and does not include plasma or platelet donors.
The codes that are given above are used to group together a range of more specific reasons for deferral, particularly the “medical” deferral code. It is not possible to provide a more detailed breakdown of this code without accessing individual donor records.