Health & Lifestyle | Posted on March 6th, 2025 | return to news
Dorset blood donors helping to save lives
The plasma of local donors is being used to make life-saving medicines for NHS patients, reducing reliance on imports.
Blood donors in Dorset are helping to save the lives of NHS patients around the country.
For the first time in a quarter of a century, the plasma of local donors is being used to make life-saving medicines for NHS patients, reducing reliance on imports.
These medicines can only be made from human blood. Plasma makes up 55 per cent of our blood and contains antibodies which strengthen or stabilise the immune system.
When blood is donated, the antibodies can be separated out and made into medicines which treat people with life-limiting illnesses such as immune deficiencies.
The most important medicine is immunoglobulin. In Dorset, hundreds of people receive immunoglobulin each year.
Over the past three years, blood donors in Dorset, including at the Poole Donor Centre, have supplied around 7,000 litres of plasma in total, enough to make around 3,100 bottles of immunoglobulin, which is enough to save or improve the lives of around 90 people over a year.
In England, around 17,000 people rely on immunoglobulin to save or improve their lives each year. And thousands of patients rely on albumin – another plasma medicine – which is used in childbirth, trauma, and to treat liver conditions.
There is currently a global shortage of plasma medicines. The NHS has previously relied solely on imported plasma medicines.
But the new supply of UK plasma medicines will bolster supplies to the NHS. It will reduce reliance on imports, which can be hit by reductions in supply and prices spikes.
Lizzie Colwill, 39, a nurse from Christchurch, welcomed the news because she needed immunoglobulin to protect her baby during pregnancy.
During the routine 12-week screening, she was found to have developed antibodies which recognised her baby’s blood as foreign.
The antibodies would break down her baby’s red blood cells, causing haemolytic disease of the newborn – in her case, it would be fatal for the baby if left untreated.
Lizzie said: “I received an immunoglobin treatment as a preventative treatment to stop the aggressive antibodies crossing the placenta to the baby.
“This consisted of multiple sessions each week to have the immunoglobin infused and it was very successful, buying extra time until my baby was big enough for more treatment. Charlie also had blood transfusions.
“Charlie was born in November 2020. He is now four years old and perfectly healthy with no long-lasting side effects.
“It took many people to save his life, and I will be forever grateful to each of them.
“Donating saves many lives in many different ways. It’s wonderful that the plasma from blood donors is now also being used for immunoglobulin treatments. Immunoglobulin saved Charlie’s life; without this treatment he would not [have] grown big enough to be able to have the blood transfusions that saved him.
Alison Jennings, 48, from Canford Heath said: “It’s great news we can make our own and now people are actually getting it. I know there have been shortages of immunoglobulin due to the international demand.”
Alison receives immunoglobulin medicine because she has Common Variable Immune Disorder – her body does not make enough antibodies to fight off infections.
She said she thinks about plasma donors every time she gives herself an infusion of the medicine, which has enabled her to become a mum and stay alive.
Doctors knew she had some form of immunodeficiency from when she was aged around two and a half years old, after not gaining enough weight and height.
However, her full diagnosis and treatment only began in her 20s after several hospitalisations with pneumonia and bronchitis.
The immunoglobulin gives her the protection from germs and viruses that her own body cannot provide.
Alison said: “Without it, your quality of life is severely impacted. I would have needed strict routines and a limited life.
“I definitely would not have thought about becoming a parent. And I think my lifespan would have been shortened without immunoglobulin.”
Alison now has home infusions, on a Friday or Saturday night, with support from her fiancé Gary.
She said: “My son James is so sweet; he likes to be my assistant.
“I never take an infusion for granted. Every single time, when I sit at my kitchen table and prep my infusion, I do think about the person who has taken the time to donate, so I can just lead a better of quality of life and be a mother to my son.
“Donation has given me a chance to be a mother and to enjoy things that I think many people take for granted. It leaves me very humble and very grateful.”
Daniel Cooper, NHSBT assistant director for Blood Donation Operations, said: “We need more blood donors to help make more of these medicines and build UK self-sufficiency. Your donation is now helping save lives in new ways. Go to blood.co.uk to become a donor.”
The NHS needs more blood donors. Go to www.blood.co.uk to become a donor.
Please share post:
LATEST NEWS:
CHARITY OF THE YEAR 2025
Subscribe to the online magazine news letter
