So that blood donation saves even more lives, all sessions in Hull will help make medicine.
The red blood cells of the donors will still be used as normal and the donor will not notice any changes.
Blood plasma will now be separated out and used to make a specialist medicine when the blood is taken for routine processing.
Antibodies found in plasma help fight infections. In immunoglobulin, these antibodies are concentrated and used to boost or stabilize the immune system in patients with immune disorders.
Due to the high cost and international demand, the recovery of plasma will boost NHS supplies.
In Humberside, about 285 people were treated with immunoglobulin last year.
At first, only female blood donors will be able to donate plasma. All male and female blood donors in Hull will be able to donate plasma in the future. There are around 2,800 blood donors in Hull.
As a result, NHSBT will ultimately recover around 250,000 litres of plasma per year for immunoglobulin medicine. Around 1 million blood donations per year will be able to benefit from this extra, lifesaving use.
An NHSBT spokesperson said:
“This is great news for donors and great news for the NHS. Now, every single blood donation session in Hull will be able to provide plasma for medicines to benefit the NHS.
“Plasma is used to make unique, lifesaving treatments every month. Thousands of people rely on these medicines to stay alive.”
One of the precautions instituted against variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was not to use plasma from UK donors for immunoglobulin medicines from 1998 to 2021. MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) independent advice led to the lifting of the restriction in 2021.
As soon as the full manufacturing and supply chain is in place, the plasma will be stored, ready to be made into immunoglobulin.
Hull is always in need of new blood donors. There is a particular need for blood donors with O negative blood and black donors.
Become a blood donor. Register today and book an appointment online, by calling 0300 123 23 23, or by downloading the GiveBloodNHS app.