General Information

Background and Introduction

The NHSBT/HPA Centre for Infections Epidemiology unit was set up in October 1995 and is run jointly through NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) Centre for Infections. The core purpose of NHSBT is to "save and improve lives" through the provision of a safe and reliable supply of blood components, diagnostic services, tissues, solid organs and plasma proteins to the NHS. The unit collates and reports national epidemiological data on blood-borne infections and the associated risk of transfusion, used to contribute to maintaining a safe supply of blood, tissue and cells through informing donor selection criteria, monitoring trends in infections and following up any reported post-transfusion infections.

The unit manages a series of national surveillance schemes: Infections in blood, tissue and cell donors are monitored through the surveillance of donations tested and collection of information about all infected donors identified. A scheme for reporting investigations into transfusion-transmitted infections  in the UK contributes to SHOT (Serious Hazards of Transfusion), the UK national haemovigilance scheme. For each scheme, data are collected from blood centres throughout NHSBT, the Welsh Blood Service, Irish Blood service, Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service along with testing centres in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man. Data from Scotland are collected by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS), reported to the surveillance schemes and included in national analyses. In addition, infections among antenatal women tested by NHSBT from a number of trusts in England are monitored.

Blood donations are collected from volunteers (i.e. unpaid individuals) aged 17 years and over at collection sites throughout the UK. For tissue donors, donations are collected from volunteers aged in hospitals across the UK (age depending upon type of donation). Donations from cord blood donors are mainly collected from hospitals in the north London area. Prior to making a donation, a questionnaire, the donor health check (DHC), is completed for each donor which asks about medical conditions, travel history and behaviours based on donor selection guidelines. These guidelines are used to determine whether an individual can donate and are designed to defer individuals at increased risk of blood-borne infection or those whose health would be put at risk by donating. In addition, all donations are routinely tested for specific markers of infection (see donation testing) and only released for use if all tests are negative.