NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) provides funds to organisations via two routes, the Community Grants Programme and special project grants. Both funds complement and enhance NHSBT’s integrated marketing approach and are focused raising awareness, building trust with specific communities, and overcoming barriers to donation.

Since April 2023, The Community Grants Programme has provided around £700,000 of funding to 50 groups resulting in 304 initiatives, 134 events, 99 social media campaigns and 26 press and radio campaigns. The Community Grants Programme has contributed to increases in new Black heritage blood donors, increasing from 1% of new donors being from Black heritage backgrounds to 6% now. Overall, there was an increase from 31% to 48% of non-donors across ethnic backgrounds saying they would donate blood in July 2023.

The England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) does not currently have direct support provisions for palliative care arrangements. EIBSS does however support beneficiaries to manage their health conditions via discretionary one-off payments.

Discretionary one-off payments are a form of financial support that beneficiaries and bereaved spouses/partners may apply for to cover the cost of certain essential, health-related items or services.

Some examples of the one-off payments we support are for home adaptations and repairs to support an individual’s medical conditions, assisting with respite breaks to aid recovery from periods of ill health and supporting the attendance of appointments by providing payments for car repairs and travel costs.

A full list of the items or services currently supported through EIBSS is available on the NHS Business Services Authority website at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/support-scheme-members/discretionary-support-scheme

The inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal, the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, is currently taking place in Leeds. What is the Department doing to compensate the victims of this scandal and to make sure their voices are heard?

A major uplift was announced on 30 April 2019 to the financial support available to infected and affected beneficiaries registered with the infected blood support scheme in England.

As announced at that time, the Government is committed to working with its counterparts in the devolved administrations to look at the issue of parity of support across the United Kingdom. I have written to my counterparts in all the other devolved nations, including the Permanent Secretary of Northern Ireland, inviting them to meet to discuss this issue at the earliest opportunity. A date for this meeting is currently being sought.

As stated in the letter sent to the Chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry on 30 April 2019, the Government is committed to working with its counterparts in the devolved administrations to look at the issue of parity of support across the United Kingdom. I have written to Richard Pengelly, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and other counterparts in the other devolved nations inviting them to meet to discuss this issue, and a date is currently being sought for this meeting to take place.

The recently announced £30 million uplift in payments in England will be coming from existing 2019/20 Department of Health and Social Care’s non-National Health Service budget and is not a new allocation from HM Treasury. There is therefore no Barnett consequential arising from this for the existing Northern Ireland scheme.

As stated in the letter sent to the Chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry on 30 April 2019, the Government is committed to working with its counterparts in the devolved administrations to look at the issue of parity of support across the United Kingdom. I have written to Richard Pengelly, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and other counterparts in the other devolved nations inviting them to meet to discuss this issue, and a date is currently being sought for this meeting to take place.

The recently announced £30 million uplift in payments in England will be coming from existing 2019/20 Department of Health and Social Care’s non-National Health Service budget and is not a new allocation from HM Treasury. There is therefore no Barnett consequential arising from this for the existing Northern Ireland scheme.

The National Health Service blood supply chain has rigorous safety standards making the United Kingdom blood supply one of the safest in the world. Every donor completes an extensive donor health check questionnaire before each donation. This is designed to identify donors who have a recognisable risk of infection who can then be excluded or subject to further testing. Those considered at risk are asked to defer donation until it is safe for them to do so.

All blood donations are routinely tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV, syphilis and for first time donors, human T-lymphotropic virus, before they are sent to hospitals and released into the supply chain. If any blood donation tests positive for infection it is not released into the blood supply chain.

NHS Blood and Transplant and the other UK blood services are subject to regular inspections by independent regulators and NHS Blood and Transplant safety policy is formulated by two independent advisory committees: the Joint United Kingdom Blood Transfusion Services Professional Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. NHS Blood and Transplant, along with the other UK Blood Services, established a UK blood supply surveillance scheme where all hospitals in the UK report, as a condition of their registration, any recognised or unexpected reactions to blood products. This allows constant vigilance to any possible threat to the safety of the blood supply.

NHS Blood and Transplant’s Clinical Support Team provides support and advice for any donor whose blood donation tests positive for infection.

The donor will be asked to discuss the result with one of NHS Blood and Transplant’s Clinical Support Team clinical staff and, with the donor’s consent, NHS Blood and Transplant’s Clinical Support Team will arrange a referral to their general practitioner or a specialist, who will discuss the need for any treatment with the donor.

The National Health Service blood supply chain has rigorous safety standards making the United Kingdom blood supply one of the safest in the world. Every donor completes an extensive donor health check questionnaire before each donation. This is designed to identify donors who have a recognisable risk of infection who can then be excluded or subject to further testing. Those considered at risk are asked to defer donation until it is safe for them to do so.

All blood donations are routinely tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV, syphilis and for first time donors, human T-lymphotropic virus, before they are sent to hospitals and released into the supply chain. If any blood donation tests positive for infection it is not released into the blood supply chain.

NHS Blood and Transplant and the other UK blood services are subject to regular inspections by independent regulators and NHS Blood and Transplant safety policy is formulated by two independent advisory committees; the Joint United Kingdom Blood Transfusion Services Professional Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. NHS Blood and Transplant, along with the other UK Blood Services, established a UK blood supply surveillance scheme where all hospitals in the UK report, as a condition of their registration, any recognised or unexpected reactions to blood products. This allows constant vigilance to any possible threat to the safety of the blood supply.

NHS Blood and Transplant implements a three-month deferral period for men who have sex with men, irrespective of whether an individual routinely takes pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce the risk against infection with HIV. This deferral period is based on expert independent advice, provided by the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs, to protect donors and the patients who receive donated blood.

At a population level, men who have sex with men have a higher risk of acquiring a blood-borne virus or a sexually transmitted disease. Using PrEP can reduce the risk of transmitting HIV but it does not eliminate it. PrEP also does not reduce the risk of an individual becoming infected by other sexually transmitted infections, such as syphilis and hepatitis, and subsequently transmitting these infections through donated blood.

NHS Blood and Transplant appreciates that any deferral is disappointing if an individual would like to save lives by giving blood. NHS Blood and Transplant is currently working with LGBT+ groups to explore more individualised assessments and hope to report their findings towards the end of 2020.

The National Haemophilia Database (NHD) does not collect data on Factor V Leiden patients as the presence of this mutation causes an increased risk of excess blood clotting or thrombosis. The NHD collects statistics on patients with bleeding disorders, their treatment and morbidity and mortality associated with their condition and its treatment, not those with excess blood clotting disorders.

In July 2017 the Prime Minister announced a full public inquiry, under the Inquiries Act 2005, to conduct an independent review of all the events surrounding the tragedy of infection with blood products.

Following a consultation, the Inquiry’s wide ranging, and United Kingdom-wide terms of reference were presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Rt. hon David Lidington MP), and published in July 2018.

Those terms of reference include to “…identify…any individual responsibilities, as well as organisational and systemic failures.”

Further information is available on the Inquiry’s website at the following link:

https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/

In July 2017 the Prime Minister announced the creation of a full public inquiry, under the Inquiries Act 2005, to conduct an independent review of all the events surrounding the tragedy of infection with blood products.

Following a consultation, the Inquiry’s wide ranging, and United Kingdom-wide terms of reference were presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Rt. hon David Lidington MP), and published in July 2018.

Chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, the Inquiry is currently gathering evidence and is due to hear testimony from those affected by the events, as well as those responsible from the Government, the National Health Service and other organisations.

Further information is available on the Inquiry’s website at the following link:

https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/

Immunoglobulins are not currently licensed for the treatment of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). However, immunoglobulin therapy may be used ‘off-label’, if there are no other alternative licensed products available and the physician considers that immunoglobin therapy is appropriate to address the clinical need in order to manage a patient with MCAS. This decision, under the full responsibility of the physician, will need to be made following discussion between the physician and the patient.

In order to gain a licence for the use of immunoglobulin therapy for the treatment of MCAS, a Marketing Authorisation Holder would have to submit a variation to their Marketing Authorisation to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) with a dossier compiled of safety and efficacy data. Specialist assessors would review the dossier and a variation to the Marketing Authorisation would only be granted if it is determined that the benefits of the product outweigh any potential risks of using the product in its proposed indication.

The MHRA provides a scientific advice service to Marketing Authorisation Holders regarding their submissions should they request it.

During 2017/18, NHS Blood and Transplant spent £3.14 million on paid media to encourage people to donate blood. All marketing materials promote the ‘eligibility criteria tool’ which is found on the Give Blood website at the following link:

https://www.blood.co.uk/

The ‘eligibility criteria tool’ lists the deferral times for a range of scenarios such as travel, medical conditions, tattoos and includes information for men who have sex with men and wish to donate blood. NHS Blood and Transplant is committed to exploring whether a more individualised approach to risk assessment could be taken to donor selection and expects to report on its findings regarding new evidence and new technologies for assessing risk by 2020. NHS Blood and Transplant has and will continue to engage with key stakeholders such as the Terrence Higgins Trust, the National Aids Trust and Stonewall about changes to eligibility criteria.

In November 2017, when the change to the blood donor criteria for men who have sex with men came into force, a media release was distributed to national, regional and trade media. Posts on blood donation social media channels also directed individuals to this information. NHS Blood and Transplant has and will continue to engage with key stakeholders such as the Terrance Higgins Trust, the National Aids Trust and Stonewall on this issue. Further to this activity, NHS Blood and Transplant has not conducted paid for advertising to advertise the change.

NHS Blood and Transplant is committed to exploring whether a more individualised approach to risk assessment could be taken to donor selection and expects to report on its findings regarding new evidence and new technologies for assessing risk by 2020.

The Department continues to work closely with cross-Government agencies and NHS Blood and Transplant to ensure that there is no disruption to the supply of blood and blood components in any European Union exit scenario.

NHS Blood and Transplant will collect blood in Kent as usual and will hold the same number of appointments. NHS Blood and Transplant will be collecting the same amount of blood to ensure continued supply of blood to hospitals.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for the collection, manufacturing and issuing of blood products to the NHS in England. NHS Blood and Transplant collects around 1.5 million blood donations every year to make sure hospitals have the blood they need to treat patients.

The following table below shows that the number of active blood donors has decreased by 11.61% between 2008 and 2018.

Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Note:

¹The data are based on a two-year measure. This is because up until 2014, NHS Blood and Transplant’s active donor base was based on donors who had made at least one donation within two years, and not within one year as is now the case with NHS Blood and Transplant.