He added that there is “certainly more work to do” and the charity will “continue to work to ensure that our blood donation service is inclusive and evidence based”, noting restrictions remain in place for former injecting drug users among others. He said “The UK is leading the way in ensuring that blood donation is more inclusive and now will allow many more gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men to donate blood.” He added that the change in policy will allow for the “potential of so many safe donors” to be fulfilled, noting that the blood service had announced at the beginning of 2020 that it needed 68,000 new male donors.ĭr Michael Brady, medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, welcomed the move.
Today, we welcome a pioneering new policy and are immensely proud that more people than ever will be able to fairly give the life-saving gift of blood.” The health check questionnaire will include new behaviour-based indicators to assess potential donors, including considering whether a donor exhibits high-risk sexual behaviour such as having multiple partners or taking part in “chemsex” – having sex while under the influence of stimulants.Ĭampaigners applauded the step, with Ethan Spibey, the founder of the pressure group FreedomToDonate, saying: “Almost six years ago, our group of volunteers set out to rewrite the rules that had perpetuated inequality and prevented thousands of potentially safe donors from donating for too long. It will mean that anyone who has the same sexual partner for more than three months will be able to donate if there is no known exposure to a sexually transmitted infection and they are not using anti-HIV drugs PreP or PEP, NHSBT said. The change in policy will mean risk assessments for donors will be conducted on an individual basis, rather than a population-based one.