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gctest50

Iron deficiency anaemia in female blood donors – IBTS suspends taking blood from some women donors from today

Monday 16th November 2015
Iron deficiency anaemia in female blood donors – IBTS suspends taking blood from some women donors from today
The IBTS has decided today (Monday) to suspend taking blood donations from women who have given blood in the last 18 months, until the IBTS has checked a blood sample from each donor for haemoglobin (Hb).
“We introduced a new non-invasive point-of-care device in July 2014 to measure the haemoglobin level in blood donors prior to accepting them for donation. We have now discovered that the device gives inaccurate results in some individuals with anaemia down to, and probably below, 8.4 g/dL. As a result of the issue which has now been detected with this new device, some women, and probably a much smaller number of men, could have been rendered iron deficient and anaemic from blood donation in the past 18 months,” said IBTS Medical and Scientific Director Dr William Murphy.
“From last week we decided to introduce a full blood count on all female donors – this process is being extended to all male donors this week. Approximately 20 donors with anaemia who were not detected by the new device, prior to a unit of blood being taken last week, have all been contacted. In addition, from today and for the time being we are suspending taking blood donations from women who have already donated in the last 18 months. We will replace the current version of the device with an alternative as soon as possible. We have contacted the Health Products Regularity Authority in relation to this. This device is also in use in Austria and some blood donation clinics in Germany.
“Over the next few weeks we will introduce new software to reanalyse all the electronic results from all donors who have been tested and accepted for donation since we introduced this device. Any discrepant results will be notified to the donors involved.
“In the meantime we will ask any concerned donors who contact us to attend their GP if they are worried that they might be anaemic or iron deficient. We will meet the cost of attending their doctor and iron studies.
“This is a temporary measure while we resolve the issue that has arisen with the technology, or if this is not possible while we introduce an alternative method of Haemoglobin measurement. Until we have a resolution to the problem that has arisen, we are asking male donors to attend our clinics and give blood. We need male donors to make an extra effort to donate and maintain the blood supply. We will be double checking all Haemoglobin results on these donors,” he added.
Dr Murphy concluded, “we are confident that this issue with our new haemoglobin level measurment device has not had any impact on blood received by patients. We are determined to have this matter resolved as soon as possible”
Concerned donors can contact the IBTS at 1850 731137
ENDS

http://bit.ly/20Y0uWP

or if you like long URLs :

https://www.giveblood.ie/About_Us/Newsroom/Press_Releases/2015/Iron-deficiency-anaemia-in-female-blood-donors-%E2%80%93-IBTS-suspends-taking-blood-from-some-women-donors-from-today.html

miamee

Hopefully they don't see a huge decline in donations especially now they are not taking any more donations from women who've donated in the past 18 months until they have this all checked out. I've donated 2-3 times in the past 18 months but I have never had an issue previously with my iron levels or with feeling ill after donating so this should not affect me. It won't put me off donating again either but it'll be a shame if they have to go back to that bloody finger prick test (pun intended).

Neyite

I've just realised I've a pretty rare blood type, so I probably should donate. I haven't donated in years so I should check out when they are next in town.

Ice Storm

I haven't donated in the last 18 months and never had any issues with iron levels before so I assume I'm still ok to donate. I've been meaning to go for a while.

miamee wrote: »

It won't put me off donating again either but it'll be a shame if they have to go back to that bloody finger prick test (pun intended).

What were they doing instead of the finger prick test; how did the new device work?

maudgonner

Ice Storm wrote: »

What were they doing instead of the finger prick test; how did the new device work?

It's a little device that clips onto your finger, similar to pulse-ox monitors that you get in hospitals. I'm far from an expert, so maybe someone will have more info than me, but I think it works by shining light into your finger and measuring how much of it is absorbed - that can be used to calculate the amount of haemoglobin in the blood.

The last time I gave blood I failed the haemoglobin level the first time. I was surprised as I've never had an issue with it before. The nurse said not to worry, we'd try again - my hands were cold and the device is sensitive to that. So I sat for a few minutes with my hands tucked under my arms, then retested and I passed. I definitely got the impression that they didn't have massive confidence in the new system.

gctest50

maudgonner wrote: »

..........I definitely got the impression that they didn't have massive confidence in the new system.

The HSE being themselves probably picked the most fussy one to use

"only works when the moon is in the first quarter and the wind is coming from the east ? we'll have 50 of them"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25123051

RESULTS:

Technical failures occurred by using the Pronto-7 due to nail polish, skin color, or ambient light. The NBM 200 also showed a high sensitivity to ambient light and noticeably lower Hb levels for women than obtained from the Sysmex. The statistical analysis showed the following bias and standard deviation of differences of all methods in comparison to the venous results: Haemospect, -0.22 ± 1.24; NBM, 200 -0.12 ± 1.14; Pronto-7, -0.50 ± 0.99; and CompoLab Hb, -0.53 ± 0.81.

miamee

Ice Storm wrote: »

I haven't donated in the last 18 months and never had any issues with iron levels before so I assume I'm still ok to donate. I've been meaning to go for a while.


What were they doing instead of the finger prick test; how did the new device work?

maudgonner wrote: »

It's a little device that clips onto your finger, similar to pulse-ox monitors that you get in hospitals. I'm far from an expert, so maybe someone will have more info than me, but I think it works by shining light into your finger and measuring how much of it is absorbed - that can be used to calculate the amount of haemoglobin in the blood.

The last time I gave blood I failed the haemoglobin level the first time. I was surprised as I've never had an issue with it before. The nurse said not to worry, we'd try again - my hands were cold and the device is sensitive to that. So I sat for a few minutes with my hands tucked under my arms, then retested and I passed. I definitely got the impression that they didn't have massive confidence in the new system.

I think maudgonner has given more info than I could have but yes it just slips on to your finger tip and you hold your hand steady for a few moments. No blood is drawn.

pwurple

miamee wrote: »

it'll be a shame if they have to go back to that bloody finger prick test (pun intended).

I know, when I used to donate, that was the part I didn't like.