Understanding Consent for Blood Transfusion: What Healthcare Professionals Need to Know

The updated guidelines strengthen patient rights to understand blood transfusions after the Infected Blood Inquiry report 2024 raised concerns if people had received transfusions with their full knowledge or consent. Transfusions can be lifesaving, and they are extremely safe in the United Kingdom thanks to improvements in modern practices and processes, but all treatments carry risks. Healthcare teams are key to ensure patients understand the risks, benefits and alternatives of treatments to make a well-informed decision about their care.

Key Points:

Informed Consent means patients must be told the purpose, benefits, risks, and alternatives to blood transfusion in a way they can easily understand. Patients must have the ability to understand information, use it to weigh options, and communicate their decision about receiving a transfusion to give valid consent (agreement based on clear understanding).
Shared Decision-Making: Healthcare professionals should encourage patients to ask questions, express concerns, and be involved in their treatment. Patients should be informed that after receiving a transfusion they can no longer donate blood in the United Kingdom.
Documentation: Healthcare professionals should record discussions and consent in the patient’s medical records, ideally electronically, and ensure this information easy to find for others.
Refusal of Transfusion: Healthcare professionals must clearly explain the risks, discuss contingency plans, respect and clearly document, if a patient refuses transfusion including different parts of blood cells and products.
Emergency Situations: If a patient is unconscious or unable to consent, transfusion may proceed to save their life. Afterwards, healthcare professionals must inform the patient and documents the event in their medical records.
Children and Young Adults: Healthcare professionals must obtain consent from parents or guardians unless the child is mature enough (16 or 17 years old) to make their own treatment decisions. Children should be involved in decisions when reasonable.
Ongoing Consent: Healthcare professionals can get consent for multiple treatments from patients needing regular transfusions. This should be reviewed regularly, if their situation changes, and the patient asks about it.
Training for Staff: Healthcare professionals must receive training to discuss transfusion risks, benefits and alternatives to obtain valid consent.
Patient Resources: Healthcare professionals should use and signpost to NHS leaflets and online materials to help patients understand transfusion and support their decision-making.

These guidelines support the right of patients to understand, choose and review blood transfusion as part of their healthcare.

Read the full guidelines published on 9 September 2025.

Available information about blood transfusion to share with patients:

NHS blood transfusion information is available in 25 languages, easy read and audio versions and text compatible with screen reading software. You can find this information on the transfusion guidelines website.

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