Isle of Man to Introduce Individual Donor Assessment on June 1

The Isle of Man Blood Transfusion Service (IOMBTS) will introduce individual donor assessment (IDA) to determine blood donor eligibility beginning June 1. The revised process will allow some gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) to give blood. MSM in the Isle of Man were previously deferred indefinitely from blood donation.

Under the revised donor eligibility protocol, all donors will go through the same donation safety check (DSC) process, regardless of their sexuality or gender. The DSC will ask donors about recent illnesses, medications, travel or sexual activities that may prevent them from donating. This will include asking all donors if they have had a new or multiple sexual partners in the past three months. Those who have had multiple partners or had anal sex with a new partner will be temporarily deferred, regardless of their gender or their partner’s gender.

The Manx Department of Health and Social Care announced plans to transition to individual donor assessment last August in response to the 2021 report from the United Kingdom’s FAIR (For the Assessment of Individualized Risk) steering group. The report concluded that switching to an individualized, gender-neutral donor eligibility approach in the U.K. was fairer while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.

Each of the U.K.’s constituent countries – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – introduced IDA in 2021. The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, but it is not part of the U.K. As such, it sets its own regulations related to blood donor eligibility.

Additional information about IDA in the United States is available on AABB’s IDA Resources web page.