Blood donation policy for gay and bisexual men operating ‘on the fly’ – The Times

Blood donation policy should be based on science rather than operating “on the fly”, a gay man who travels to Northern Ireland to donate blood has said.

Tomás Heneghan, who took a high court case against the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) in 2019, said that changes to ease restrictions on gay and bisexual men had been incoherent and slow.

“The policy for this needs to be guided by science. Our blood policy cannot operate on the fly,” Heneghan told The Times. “At the moment, it feels like there is very little engagement on the changes. There is an attitude that things will change whenever they want to get around to it — it’s all very slow.”

Heneghan, 29, has the rare O negative