Blood: Donors
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department last reviewed NHS Blood and Transplant’s donor eligibility policy on the use of unlicensed injectable substances.
Answered by Dr Zubir Ahmed
The safety of blood is of the upmost importance. The Blood Safety and Quality Regulations 2005 mandate permanent deferral from blood donation for anyone with a history of non-prescribed intravenous or intramuscular drug use, with further information available in the Blood Safety and Quality Regulations 2005, at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/50/schedule/part/3/paragraph/2n3
The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs, which provides expert advice to all the United Kingdom’s governments, conducted a full review of the donor selection criteria in 2017. This includes the use of unlicensed injectable substances.
The Joint United Kingdom (UK) Blood Transfusion and Tissue Transplantation Services’ Professional Advisory Committee provides expert guidance to the UK blood services. Their Whole Blood and Component Donor Selection Guidelines, which includes the guidance relating to injectable tanning agents, were last updated on 18 July 2025.
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