In March 2004, the Department of Health announced a new way to decrease the risk of spreading variant CJD, the human form of BSE. Their policy, implemented by the National Blood Service (NBS) on 5 April 2004, meant people who have had a blood transfusion since 1980 could no longer donate blood.

The NBS is responsible for collecting, processing, testing and issuing blood in England and North Wales. With this new move the service has lost 3.2 per cent of its donors. Over 2 million donations of blood needs to be collected every year, yet only 6 per cent of the eligible population give blood. With so many donors automatically getting the chop from the system, the service need to replace the numbers lost.

Luckily a little IT trick has helped the NBS recoup any losses. By linking the NBS system to The National Health Authority Information System, known as The Exeter System – the service can keep better track of donor numbers, especially when they move from one GP to another. Something they had never been able to tap into.

Since April 2000, leaflets displayed in GP surgeries have encouraged people to become donors. Now with the NBS having a better knowledge of where all GP hot spots are, 23,567 of the 165,905 people registered as potential donors came forward to give blood. This is a new record for the blood service.

After their first announcement, the actual number of recorded donors removed from the NBS system was smaller than anticipated. On 22 July 2004, The Department of Health announced amends to the original policy. Now anyone who is unsure if they had a blood transfusion in the UK since 1980 and all platelet donors that have received or think they might have received blood in the UK since 1980, cannot give blood. The NBS is to implement these measures this month.

As transfer through blood is a primary target for stopping the spread of the disease, the NBS ensure the withdrawal and recall of any blood components or tissues obtained from individuals who later develop CJD. The NBS also continues to promote the appropriate use of blood and tissues throughout the NHS.

With the help of The Exeter System, the biggest benefit the NBS acknowledge is familiarising themselves with two-thirds of donors – that’s 1,272,902 people and the service is automatically informed when they move house or GPs. This is a big improvement to the level of communication the NBS were used to. It also vastly improves the quality of service the NBS can provide. In future the same kind of system could be used to recruit organ or bone marrow donors.