Has not donated blood in the past eight weeks. Has not received a blood transfusion in the past six months. Has never been turned down as a blood donor. You do not need to be present. Volunteer donor blood is blood donated by a member of the general public unknown to you.
Potential donors fill out an extensive health questionnaire and the blood is rigorously tested.
There are risks associated with receiving volunteer blood. Sometimes, in emergency situations, we may have to use volunteer blood if the amount of blood pre-stored for you is insufficient. But we would only do so in a rare, life-saving situation . Unfortunately the tests are not yet sensitive enough to screen out everyone with the AIDS virus. At present this window is believed to be between six and twelve months long.