Learn About Blood

Did you Know?

Find out how much blood you have, what it does inside your body, and how many other people you share a blood type with.

How Blood is Used

This section will tell you all about the process of donating blood and what we use each component product for.

Schools Awareness...

Click here to order in information pack for your school. This pack contains information for young donors and is suitable for transition year and older students.

Health Professionals

Blood Group Basics

Learn about the different blood groups that we test for in the IBTS. Knowing a person’s blood type is one of the most important pieces of information we need to know about our donors and blood recipients.

Testing of blood

Each time a donor attends one of our blood clinics, blood samples are collected and used to screen the blood to ensure our blood products are safe. For first time and regular donors born in Ireland, four blood samples are collected (3 plasma and 1 serum) in addition to a blood donation. For donors born outside Ireland and the UK, five blood samples are collected (4 plasma and 1 serum) for testing only (no donation is collected). We only test samples for infections that can be passed from donor to patient via a blood transfusion. Even though we test donor samples for the viruses listed below at every visit, it is still very important that donors only attend clinics when they are feeling well.

History of Blood ...

Learn about the significant developments in blood transfusion science over the years, and the establishment and development of blood transfusion services in Ireland.