Aims

• Expanding our donor base, whilst ensuring donor welfare and patient safety
• Maximising our ability to 'best' match donated blood with transfusion recipients

Key Findings

• Breaking Down Barriers - Recruiting donors of African Ancestory in Ireland. Key findings from focus groups:

  • The provision of blood donation information, and engagement with the African communities, was a crucial and consistent finding, as focus groups determined that a lack of basic information was as key barrier.
  • Building trust with the blood service is essential, and participants pointed to the value of a mobile clinic that visited African communities
  • Specific information on Sickle Cell Disease, and the difficulties with providing appropriately match blood, created a desire to help their fellow Africans.
• African respondents were significantly more likely to report lack of information and malaria-related barriers than Caucasian and more likely to donate to help someone within their own community. An awareness of sickle-cell disease was higher among African respondents.
  • Motivators and barriers to blood donation among potential donors of African and Caucasian ethnicity. Helen Fogarty, Muskan Sardana, Luke Sheridan, Phoebe Chieng, Sarah Kelly, Noel Ngwenya, Ciara Sheehan, Kieran Morris, Emma Tuohy. Blood Transfus. 2022 Jun 12.

• Gender identification is critical for donation and transfusion safety and the development of our transgender donation policy means that and there is increased awareness of the barriers and stigma that transgender donors may experience.
• For more information please see our Transgender and Non-Binary Donor's Information Leaflet
  • Transgender Donors and Blood Donation in the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. Jennifer Harkin, Shonagh Ward, Louise Pomeroy, Ellen McSweeney. Presentation at 4th European Conference on Donor Health and Management 2021. 

On-going Research 

• Greater understanding of the ethnic and genetic diversity within the Irish door population