Report: with blood supplies running low, hematologist Ellen McSweeney looks at some of the issues around donating blood
One in four people in Ireland will need a blood transfusion during their lives, yet just 3% of the eligible population donate blood. Blood supplies were critically low last week and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service have appealed for more donations. Hematologist Dr Ellen McSweeney joined the Drivetime show on RTÉ Radio 1 to answer listeners' questions about donating blood. (This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been edited for length and clarity - you can hear the discussion in full above).
Can people who've had blood transfusions give blood?
"Unfortunately no. That is still the case with anyone who has had a blood transfusion since 1980. This was initially brought in about 20 years ago as a precautionary measure against the transmission of variant CJD by transfusion. Now, we're aware at this point not all the people have been transfused and would love to donate and in fact it will be reviewed again, but at the moment that is the position."
Is there a cut-off age for donating blood?
"If you've never donated before then the maximum age in Ireland is 64 - in other words, it has to be before their 65th birthday. But for a regular donor or somebody who hasn't donated in five years then as long as they are under the age of 70, they can come along. What I might suggest is that they actually phone us and ask for an appointment. What happens is if somebody hasn't attended the clinic in five years then we don't actually text them but if they contact us, we'll be delighted to do that the next time we're in their area."
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, John Cooke finds out why so few of us donate blood
Are you looking for all blood types?
"We do have a duty of care to everybody who donates and we shouldn't actually take a donation from somebody if we know or think we're not going to use it. Saying that, we're so short at the moment that the likelihood we wouldn't use an O negaive is absolutely minimum. Now, there's some people of the AB group who are AB negative and we tend to have more of a supply of them, so we might actually say to a person of that group 'don't come for now but we'll contact you when we're short of your group and we need you'
Can people with hemochromatosis donate blood?
"We accept people with hemochromatosis at any of our our mobile clinics around the country and at our static site. But they must fulfill certain criteria. They must be in the maintenance phase so they must have gone past the phase when their ferritin is being reduced. They mustn't have any complications because of hemochromatosis such as cardiac arrhythmias or liver dysfunction or cirrhosis of the liver or insulin dependent diabetes. Then, they can come to donate.
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From RTÉ Archives, Clare MacNamar reports for RTÉ News in 1997 on low blood supplies
Do you operate mobile clinics?
"We actually have six mobile clincis specifically that cover the country quite extensively. During Covid, there were some smaller venues that weren't suitable because of public health measures and the distance required between people, so there are some smaller rural areas that we no longer go to. If you go to our website, you can see the schedule usually three months ahead and see when we're next in your area."
If I've had jaundice before, can I donate blood?
"That was the case in the past, about 20 years ago, but we changed that guideline. Anybody who had jaundice under the age of 13 can come and donate. Generally, it's generally hepatitis A at that age. In fact, if somebody knows that it was definitely hepatitis A that caused their jaundice, then they can donate at any age as long as they've recovered for at least six months. If somebody is recovered, it's not transmissible by transfusion."
There's a blood donation Q&A available on the Give Blood website
