IBTS denies there is a delay in transgender donors giving blood

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service says transgender donors can present as their preferred gender.

It comes after a trans woman campaigned for a year to change her gender from male to female on the service's computer system.

The IBTS says a new system has been set up because a donor's gender has an impact on how blood is used for patients.

A new questionnaire has been added to take other factors like sexuality activity or haemoglobin levels into account.

Dr Stephen Field, the medical and scientific director at the IBTS, said: "The gender of a person is important, in terms of how the components of the blood collected is actually used.

"If somebody, for example, is female initially and has been pregnant they may have made antibodies when they were pregnant which may have an affect when you give plasma products to a patient.

"With our change of gender on the computer system, we just need to ensure the right questions are asked of the donor when they present.

"It's not just a question of changing male to female.

"We certainly respect our donors and if they do change gender, we have to treat them without any discrimination or anything like that," he added.