Donor Health and Behaviour

Donated blood is a crucial resource for healthcare systems, enabling blood transfusions that save millions of lives every year around the world.

But the evidence needed to improve the safety and efficiency of blood donation is weak and underdeveloped, risking harm and waste.

The current Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Donor Health and Genomics, led by Professor Emanuele Di Angelantonio, has shown ways to improve blood donor health and ensure a steady supply of blood to the NHS. Professor Di Angelantonio s new BTRU, in Donor Health and Behaviour, will build on this foundation.

Working with colleagues at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Nottingham and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the proposed BTRU will conduct research to address major challenges identified by NHSBT, such as: Understanding why people do, and don t, donate blood Finding ways to encourage a more ethnically diverse range of people to donate blood Understanding the impact of new approaches, such as asking specific people to donate blood instead of the current system which encourages everyone to donate Using information technology tools to improve communications within NHSBT Promoting safe and effective donation practices Identifying risks of adverse health effects of blood donation (e.g., fainting, iron) and evaluating measures to prevent these Developing new methods for recruiting and retaining donors These objectives will be addressed by: (i) large-scale online surveys, (ii) interviews and focus groups within ethnically diverse communities, (iii) analyses of available large-scale datasets, (iv) designing new and innovative clinical trials and (v) gathering data on donor biological characteristics.

We will work with blood service staff, blood donors, patients, members of the public and policy-makers to ensure that the impact of our work is relevant, acceptable, available and understandable to the general public, and that national and international blood services are aware of the research to support policy and practices.

The two main achievements of the BTRU are to produce (i) results and scientific resources that inform NHSBT policy and practice and (ii) direct advice to NHSBT and donors.