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<p>The National Health Service blood supply chain has rigorous safety standards making
the United Kingdom blood supply one of the safest in the world. Every donor completes
an extensive donor health check questionnaire before each donation. This is designed
to identify donors who have a recognisable risk of infection who can then be excluded
or subject to further testing. Those considered at risk are asked to defer donation
until it is safe for them to do so.</p><p>All blood donations are routinely tested
for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV, syphilis and for first time donors,
human T-lymphotropic virus, before they are sent to hospitals and released into the
supply chain. If any blood donation tests positive for infection it is not released
into the blood supply chain.</p><p>NHS Blood and Transplant and the other UK blood
services are subject to regular inspections by independent regulators and NHS Blood
and Transplant safety policy is formulated by two independent advisory committees:
the Joint United Kingdom Blood Transfusion Services Professional Advisory Committee
and the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. NHS Blood and
Transplant, along with the other UK Blood Services, established a UK blood supply
surveillance scheme where all hospitals in the UK report, as a condition of their
registration, any recognised or unexpected reactions to blood products. This allows
constant vigilance to any possible threat to the safety of the blood supply.</p><p><br></p>
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