IBTS delays blood ban on former UK residents

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has being forced to delay plans to bar former British residents from giving blood.

The ban was due to come into effect in March of this year. It was proposed last year that people who lived in the UK for a year or more when "mad cow disease" was at its height would be banned.

This decision has had to be deferred because of a sharp rise in demand for blood products last year, the IBTS said at the launch of its annual report for 2002.

Dr Willie Murphy, the IBTS medical director, said that to introduce the ban as part of a strict new safety policy would "cut our current donor base by 5 to 6 per cent".

He said the board remained committed to this move, but its introduction had to be deferred until it was possible. The ban is aimed at reducing the risk of transmitting vCJD, the human form of BSE via blood transfusion. The measure is "precautionary" as it as is still not clear whether vCJD can be spread through blood.

Dr Murphy said the level of transfusions in Irish hospitals rose last year, with a particularly sharp rise in the demand for platelets. To support this, the IBTS increased donation levels by more than eight per cent.

This increase was driven by higher levels of procedures in hospitals, driven in part by the appointment of a number of new haematologists.

The report showed the IBTS had 23,851 new donors last year, bringing to 196,587 the total number of donations. Some 21.13 per cent of these were deferred for safety or other reasons.

Acting chief executive Mr Andrew Kelly confirmed that he was to remain in this role for another 12 months following the failure of the IBTS to appoint a ceo to replace Mr Martin Hynes who was suspended from his role last year. Mr Hynes took the IBTS to the High Court and was awarded €186,598 in lieu of 18 months service, in addition to €60,000 in respect of legal costs.

The financial position of the board remains positive. The board earned €104.9 million in sales of blood products to hospitals. This was significantly up on the €73.5 million earned the previous year.

Mr Kelly said there was no increase in the cost of a unit of blood planned for this year, which remained at €223. The Dail Public Accounts Committee heard this year that the unit price of blood has trebled since 1998.

He said the investigation into how at least 28 blood donors were not immediately informed of hepatitis C test results in the 1990s will proceed when the new Commissions of Investigation Bill (2003) goes through the Dail in the autumn.

He said two more people had contacted that IBTS with concerns that they had been infected hepatitis C through the anti-D blood product so far this year.

He also confirmed that a design brief for the new testing centre has been sent to the Department of Health. The board said it has accepted a decision from independent experts to carry out blood testing at two sites, in Dublin and also in Cork. This appears to end a long running row between the two centres with Cork arguing for the need for a second centre while the board was committed to single site testing at Dublin.

Mr Kelly said the issue was "no longer a matter for discussion for the board".