To help protect the health of donors, it’s a requirement to find out whether a donor’s blood haemoglobin levels are adequate.
The blood service in England screens potential donors with an initial finger prick (“copper sulphate”) test. For people suspected of having inadequate haemoglobin levels, a more precise (“HemoCue”) test is then immediately done using a venous blood sample. However, blood services in different countries use different screening approaches.
We are leading a study of 31,000 donors to compare different methods. The goal is to help safeguard the well-being of future blood donors and define best practice for NHSBT.