Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2025 to Question 48518 on Blood: donors, if he will provide a breakdown of this data by gender.
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood donation in England. NHSBT collects donor’s sex as assigned at birth and their gender identity. A donor’s sex is recorded as the ways in which blood products are donated and processed differ between those assigned male and female at birth.
The following table shows the number of deferrals due to low haemoglobin levels by those of African, Caribbean, mixed white and African, and mixed white and Caribbean heritage, broken down by biological sex at birth, from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the latest data available:
Ethnicity | Number of female deferrals due to low haemoglobin levels | Number of male deferrals due to low haemoglobin levels |
Black- African | 3293 | 730 |
Black- Caribbean | 1857 | 567 |
Mixed white and black African | 388 | 104 |
Mixed white and black Caribbean | 1053 | 258 |