Question reference: S5W-34017
- Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 11 December 2020
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 14 December 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address the current three-month deferral of men who have sex with men from donating blood.
Answer
The Scottish Government has asked the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) to start preparing to make changes to the questions blood donors are asked in order to move to a more individualised assessment of whether donors may be at risk of a blood-borne virus infection, regardless of their sex, gender or sexual orientation. The changes will ensure a fairer and more up to date assessment of risk is applied to all donors; and men will no longer be automatically deferred from donating blood if they have had sex with another man in the past three months.
These changes will adopt the recommendations of the UK-wide For Assessment of Individualised Risk (FAIR) steering group. The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO) reviewed the proposals outlined by the group and confirmed they would not impact on the safe supply of blood and blood components for recipients in the UK. SNBTS will work with the other UK blood services to make preparations and raise awareness with donors and potential donors about the changes. It expects to implement these changes by summer 2021.