Blood donations by people at higher risk of HIV - our policy

Terrence Higgins Trust is the UK’s largest HIV and sexual health charity, providing services to over 50,000 people every year, a significant proportion of whom are gay and bisexual men.

We support calls for the National Blood Service to to regularly review their policy on who in the UK is allowed to give blood in the light of new technology and scientific evidence. However, we will wait for the results of any such reviews before deciding what changes, if any, should be implemented. We believe that the current policy of the National Blood Service is justifiable and was based on the best available evidence when it was drawn up. Unless a subsequent review finds that risks to the blood service have changed the current policy is sensible and pragmatic.

Our first priority, and the priority of the Blood Service, is to prevent blood containing HIV from being passed to patients who receive transfusions or blood products. THT has a proud history of campaigning for LGBT rights and against homophobia and will continue to do so, but we believe that this is first and foremost a public health issue, rather than one of homophobic discrimination.

We accept that on the surface the rules can initially appear very discriminatory and believe the National Blood Service need to improve the quality of their communication with members of the public who are refused, to explain why this is so.

What does THT recommend?

We recommend that the policy be regularly reviewed to ensure it is based on the best available scientific evidence and most up-to-date technology. However, we will wait to see the outcomes of these reviews before calling for any changes to the regulations. We would need to be satisfied that risks to the blood supply had altered sufficiently for menwho have sex with men to be allowed to give blood. We will not pre-empt the findings of any review by calling for changes to the regulations without evidence.

We also recommend that the Blood Service revisit the information they provide on their website and in other media to make sure that people understand that their policy is not based on homophobia. We believe that most gay men, if the policy was properly explained to them, would understand why they are excluded from giving blood and accept the National Blood Service policy, as many who have talked with us do.