Why you shouldn't fear a blood transfusion – NHS explains why patients are safe

As the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry are finally released, the NHS say that lessons have been learned – and that the blood service in England is “now one of the safest in the world”.

The probe, one of the largest ever in the UK, examined how people received contaminated blood and blood products in the 1970s through to the early 1990s.

Publication of the inquiry could cause concern among people in need of blood now, but NHS officials have described how things are “very different” today.

Donor screening and multiple checks and tests on blood mean that the UK blood service “is one of the safest in the world,” experts said.

Dr Gail Miflin, chief medical officer at NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) – which is responsible for blood services in England and organ donation services across the UK – said that there are a number of checks in place now to ensure that blood is as safe as it can be.

“Today, things are very different, we have lots of different systems and processes in place,” she said.

She said the tests are “more modern” and the science “has moved on a long way” since the 1980s and 1990s.