New rules for blood plasma donation
14 Jul 2025
A message from Stephen - Chief Executive Officer, Lifeblood
On behalf of everyone at Lifeblood, I’m pleased to share with you some exciting changes to our donation rules which will make it easier for more people, including from the LGBTQIA+ community, to donate.
From today, we’re removing most sexual activity wait times for people donating plasma.
This means more gay and bisexual men, transgender people, anyone taking PrEP (a medication to prevent HIV), and others excluded by previous sexual activity rules can now donate plasma without a wait period.
Until today, the wait to donate plasma after some sexual activities was three months.
This change comes at an important time as plasma is now the part of blood most needed by patients and hospitals.
I’m also excited to share that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has recently approved our submission to remove gender-based sexual activity rules for all forms of blood donation.
We hope to be able to implement this additional change next year. Once it’s up and running, all donors will be asked the same questions, regardless of gender or sexuality.
It is great that we are now able to make these changes while ensuring the ongoing safety of the blood supply. Together, these changes will not only allow the greatest number of people to donate but will allow us to safely remove rules that are no longer necessary. While they were put in place to ensure a safe blood supply in the past, the lifting of these rules will make blood and plasma donation more inclusive, particularly for people in the LGBTQIA+ community, while benefiting thousands of patients across the country who rely on plasma medicines every day.
We estimate that around 625,000 people in Australia were impacted by these previous wait times and acknowledge the stigma and hurt many experienced because of these rules. We hope that today’s change to plasma eligibility will be a turning point for Lifeblood and the LGBTQIA+ community and one which will see up to 95,000 more plasma donations every year.
You can learn more about the specifics of the change on our website.
As a donor, you can help by spreading this exciting news to your family, friends, colleagues, and beyond. Or, why not come in with a mate who’s donating for the first time? Anyone who is newly eligible can register as a donor and book a plasma donation from now.
As always, thank you for being a life-saving donor. I hope you, like us, are excited to see many more new faces in our donor centres soon.
Stephen Cornelissen AM
Chief Executive Officer
Lifeblood
