Irish Blood Transfusion Service
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service, or Seirbhís Fuilaistriúcháin na hÉireann in Irish, was established in Ireland as the Blood Transfusion Service Board by the Blood Transfusion Service Board Order, 1965. It took its current name in April 2000 by Statutory Instrument issued by the Minister for Health and Children to whom it is responsible. The Service provides blood and blood products for humans.
History
The service is the successor to the National Blood Transfusion Association which was established in 1948 and was, itself, born from the work carried out by the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland in setting up an 'on call' blood donor panel to serve hospitals in the Dublin area. In 1975 the Cork Blood Transfusion Service was amalgamated with the board, and in 1991 the Limerick Blood Transfusion Service was amalgamated with the board.The symbol of the service is a stylised pelican, and for most of its existence the headquarters of the service was located at Pelican House in Dublin. In 2000 the service moved to the National Blood Centre on the grounds of St. James's Hospital near Dublin Heuston railway station, on which it remains. The service maintains regional facilities at Ardee, Carlow, Cork, Limerick and Tuam.
The Compensation Tribunal
Between 1977 and 1994 a number of people unknowingly received Hepatitis C-infected blood, and clear evidence of this did not become available until the mid-1990s. Most of those infected by the blood were women. The Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal was established by the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act, 1997, and amended by the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act, 2002, to compensate people who contracted Hepatitis C or HIV as a result of receiving blood or blood products from the Service.About blood
The frequency of blood groups in Ireland is as follows:| O Positive | 47% | O Negative | 8% | A Positive | 28% | A Negative | 5% |
| B Positive | 9% | B Negative | 2% | AB Positive | 2% | AB Negative | 1% |
It is important that the IBTS collects enough O Rh D positive blood as almost half the population are that blood type. Donors with O Rh D negative are known as universal donors. Their blood can be transfused to patients of any other blood group in an emergency or if the patient's own blood group is unavailable. Because any patient can receive O Rh D negative blood, the IBTS need to have extra O Rh D negative blood available at all times.
Eligibility to donate
The service depends entirely on voluntary donations from the public. New donors must be aged between 18 and 64, weigh over 50 kilograms, and be in good health. At every donation haemoglobin levels are checked and donors complete a detailed health and lifestyle questionnaire. Donors can give blood every 90 days.The IBTS imposes a number of restrictions on those who can give blood. These comply with those of the European Union, World Health Organization, and the Irish Medicines Board, and are similar to other countries. These restrictions ensure that blood products are safe for recipients. A four-month restriction is placed on donors who have had piercings or tattoos or had acupuncture, and a similar restriction on anyone who has visited a tropical area. There is a year-long deferral for those who have visited a malarial area. Donors who have travelled to some parts of the United States or Canada have to wait for four weeks before donating due to spread of the West Nile virus there. Certain medications or conditions can also exclude people from donation.
Additionally, there are groups of people who are barred from donating blood based on their membership of high-risk groups. This includes people who have lived for a year or more in the United Kingdom between the years 1980–1996 and those who received medical procedures in the UK since 1 January 1980, due to the risk of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in that country. vCJD has a long incubation period and no laboratory test can detect it. People who have ever been injected with any kind of non-prescription drug, and anyone who have ever been paid for sex with money or drugs are also permanently barred from donating blood.
Ban on men who have sex with men
may donate blood if they have not engaged in oral or anal sex with another man at least 12 months prior to a donation. This policy came into effect from 16 January 2017.The IBTS "accepts that they are being discriminatory; we discriminate against several groups in the community insofar as we refuse to allow them to donate blood on the basis of perceived increased risk of spreading infections through blood transfusion". Several campaigns have been launched in an effort to reverse the ban. Gay Doctors Ireland denounced the ban as "unscientific" and outdated.
On 20 May 2019, Tomás Heneghan initiated a legal challenge in the High Court against the blanket deferral on men who have had oral or anal sex with another man in the previous 12-month period.
In July 2019, a gay man in Ireland filed a formal complaint with the European Commission against the Department of Health and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service over the MSM one-year deferral policy. The man, who has chosen to have his complaint examined by the Commission anonymously, is alleging the ban violates a number of European Union laws, including two European Union Directives covering the standards of quality and safety for the collection of blood by EU member states, as well as provisions contained in both the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Commission has informed the man his complaint will now be considered in light of EU law.
Previously, on 27 July 2015, at the age of 23 and while a University of Limerick student and journalist, Heneghan began a legal challenge in the High Court against the permanent deferral imposed on MSM donors. He argued that the questionnaire and interview process used by the IBTS does not adequately assess the risk of disease transmission posed by his donation. He claimed this is in breach of EU law. He said that both failed to consider the length of time between a donor's last sexual experience and the end of a “window period” in which infections are sometimes not detected. Heneghan's previous sexual activity posed no risk of infection, according to HSE-approved advice and he said the service had no evidence upon which it could legitimately impose a lifelong ban on him donating blood.
Following several adjournments of the case to allow the blood service and Department of Health to examine and develop the donation policies, in late June 2016 the Irish Blood Transfusion Service recommended that the lifetime ban on MSM be reduced to a 12-month ban. Later that week the Minister for Health Simon Harris agreed to the recommendations and announced the reduction would take place. However no timeline was initially reported for the implementation of the new policies.
On 26 July 2016 Heneghan dropped his High Court challenge against the service as an end to the lifetime deferral on MSM blood donors had been announced in the interim. Heneghan then wrote about his experiences of challenging the ban in a number of national media outlets. He also appeared on TV3's Ireland AM show to speak about his case.
On 2 October 2016, it was reported that Minister Harris would implement the new policy from 16 January 2017, almost seven months after he announced the policy change.
On 16 January 2017, Heneghan attended a blood donation clinic in D'Olier Street, Dublin and became the first man who has had sex with another man to donate blood openly in the Republic of Ireland since the lifetime deferral policy was first introduced in the 1980s. However he also criticised the new 12 month deferral policy on MSM and called on Ireland's Health Minister to initiate a review of the IBTS and replace the 12 month deferral period for MSM with no deferral or a 3 month deferral on all donors following sexual intercourse.
Previously in August 2013 Heneghan had alleged the Irish Blood Transfusion Service had discriminated against him despite his assertion that he had never had oral or anal sex with another man.