Tens of thousands of blood-filled bags thrown out every year could be diverted to saving lives, according to new research.
Experts say there’s a large pool of potential donors who don’t know their discarded blood can be used to tackle rising demand.
Australia’s aging population and cancer are adding to the demand for blood.
David Irving from Lifeblood Research & Development said it was the highest they had seen for the past 12 years.
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Blood donor Dean Hislop recently made his first blood donation after being diagnosed with hemochromatosis two years ago.
His blood was removed each week to treat very high iron levels.
“Turned out I was 12 times over the levels,” he said.
“I had no symptoms though, no knowledge of it.”
It was picked up during a medical check-up when he turned 40.
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Di Prince from Haemochromatosis Australia said the condition was the most common genetic disorder in Australia.
“Haemochromatosis is a condition that causes people to load too much iron, so absorb too much iron from their diet, more iron than they need,” Prince said,
Routine blood removal – which is free – is necessary to avoid damage to the liver, heart and pancreas.
But new research shows a lot of that blood is going to waste.
That’s because they contain too much iron, but experts say it’s perfectly healthy to be used to save lives.
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About 73,000 bags of blood taken from patients at pathology and GP services are discarded every year.
That’s enough blood to fill a large tanker and could be diverted to helping patients who need it.
“Lack of education is probably one of the key issues, about 40 per cent of them didn’t know their blood could be used to help other people,” Irving said.
And in recent years plasma donations have also been accepted.
There are two separate apps available, making it much easier for GPs to refer patients to Lifeblood and for people with the condition to make an appointment.
Each bag of blood helps at least three people.
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