The blood donation rule changes allowing for thousands more donations

The rules surrounding blood donations have changed allowing for people who have just gotten tattoos to give blood one week allowing for 10,000 more donations a year.

Executive director of donor experience at the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Cath Stone, says the change comes after evidence showed no increased risk to the blood supply.

“Two years ago, our regular tattooed donors would remember we enabled a change to allow you to donate plasma straight away … in the two years since we made that change, we’ve been able to gather the evidence to support this change,” she told Heidi Murphy, filling in for Neil Mitchell.

Press PLAY to hear the what the change will mean for blood donations

Image: iStock.