Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, What steps are taken to encourage women to donate during the follicular stage of their menstrual cycle.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for collecting blood donations in England to meet patient need.

NHSBT encourages all eligible donors to donate when it is safe to do so and follows donor selection guidelines developed by the Joint UK Blood Transfusion and Tissue Transplantation Services Professional Advisory Committee (JPAC), which are regularly reviewed and updated.

The JPAC guidelines do not distinguish between stages of the menstrual cycle, such as the follicular or luteal phase. Instead, donor suitability is assessed on an individual basis, including haemoglobin testing before donation.

Information on menstruation and blood donation is available on JPAC and NHSBT websites, at the following two links:

https://www.jpac.org.uk/guidelines/wb/index/periods/

https://my.blood.co.uk/eligibility/health/article/?id=00045p08&title=Menstruation+%3A+Periods