REGINA – Canadian Blood Services is working on removing a screening form it says is wasteful and no longer effective.
“If you collect a million units, it’s over 1,000-1,500 units a year we will save from eliminating this step,” said Dr. Ted Alport, the Saskatchewan medical officer for the organization. “Studies have shown that it’s just not adding any value.”
The confidential unit exclusion (CUE) form was introduced in the 1980s for people considered to be in at-risk groups, including homosexuals and IV drug users, to privately disclose that their blood should not be used.
The form includes two barcoded stickers: one on the “Yes, use my blood” section and one on the “No, do not use my blood” section. Alone in a screening room, donors removed one sticker and attach it to their blood screening form and toss the CUE form in a box, then donate.
Doug Elliott is the counsel for the Canadian AIDS Society and represented the group during the tainted blood scandal. He said some people in at-risk groups can feel pressured to donate, such as during workplace blood drives.
“So, for example, if they were a gay man or an injection drug user, they would feel that they had to give blood in order not to be singled out or raise questions with their coworkers,” he said on Saturday in his Toronto office.
The 2009 study “Evaluation of the confidential unit exclusion form: the Canadian Blood Services experience” focused on blood donation data from 2004-2008.
Of the 7,104 donations deemed CUE-unsafe, seven tested positive for a transmissible disease. Of the 4,775,044 CUE-safe donations, 1,023 were positive.
“It’s sort of the opposite of what you might expect,” said Alport at Regina’s blood donor clinic, located at the intersection of Broad Street and Broadway Avenue, on Friday.
He blamed a significant part of the disparity on people’s misunderstanding of the option, which is no longer mandatory in the United States.
Elliott agreed that the program isn’t as effective anymore but said the discussion shouldn’t end at removing it.
“It means that you look at what an alternative might be that would be more effective and would involve less waste of blood,” he said.
Alport said that if the form were removed, donors would still have the option to stop donating during the process.
“You can also phone in after you’ve donated and say, ‘There is reasons that my blood should not be used,’ and ask it not be used, and it won’t be used,” he said.
“Expecting people to pick up the phone a few days afterwards to let Canadian Blood Services know, I just don’t see it as a workable solution,” said Elliott.
CBS hopes to get Health Canada’s approval to stop using the form by next year.
All blood donations that CBS collects undergo testing before being used, but Alport said there can still be dangers.
“The testing is very good, the testing is not perfect,” he said.
Between 2009 and Oct. 17, 2014, 9,489 donations were discarded based on donors choosing the “no” option.
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