Who can donate platelets?

By becoming a platelet donor you will join a community of active donors across England who save lives every day.

You may be able to donate platelets if you have the right blood type, a high enough platelet count, and have given blood before.

Can you donate platelets?

We'd like to hear from you if you:

have A negative, A positive or AB negative blood
have given blood or platelets before
are aged between 17 and 70 (if you are over 70 and have donated blood or platelets within the last two years, you are still eligible)
have enough blood to donate safely
are able to regularly spare up to 2 hours to donate at least 4 times a year
can travel to a donor centre

Check how much blood you have

You need to have enough blood to donate platelets safely.

Use this tool to check if you have enough blood to donate.

This calculation uses your gender, height and weight but is different to BMI (body mass index).

Results:

Estimate

Who can't donate platelets?

There are some reasons why you can't donate platelets, even if you have given blood or platelets in the past.

Reasons you can't donate

Reasons you might have to wait to donate

There are some health, travel and lifestyle reasons that may stop you giving platelets on a temporary basis.

These include:

pregnancy
taking certain non-steroidal medications on a regular basis such as ibuprofen
travel to and from certain countries outside the UK on a regular basis
a 3-month wait after having anal sex with a new partner, or multiple partners
recent tattoos and piercings

What is your blood type?

We are looking for people with these blood types to switch to donating platelets:

A negative
AB negative
A positive

Platelets from donors with these blood types are safe to give to almost everyone and are constantly needed by hospitals.

Hospital demand may change in the future and we may need donors with other blood types to step forward.

If you have a different blood type you can still save and improve lives by giving blood or donating plasma.

A donor carer checks some details with a donor as he donates — One platelet donation can save or improve the lives of up to 12 children with cancer

Are you an existing blood donor?

Before switching to platelet donation, you need to be an existing blood donor, or have previously been a blood donor.

Once you make the switch to platelet donation, you cannot continue to give blood. If you want to return to giving blood at any point, you will need to stop donating platelets first.

Given blood in the last two years

Given blood more than two years ago

Never given blood before

Donated platelets in the past

Become a platelet donor

If you meet these criteria and would like to join us the next step is to arrange an assessment when you next give blood.

Where can you donate

There are 25 donor centres in England

See our donor centres

Platelet donor, Natalie, giving a donation

Donating is so easy and pain free. In fact I enjoy the peace and quiet.

Natalie started giving platelets after a friend died from bowel cancer