How it works

Rare Blood Connect keeps a register of people with rare blood groups, so that when a hospital needs one the search starts from a list instead of from nothing. Here is what that looks like from both sides.

One person, one role

You take part either as a donor or as a patient, not both at the same time. It keeps the register unambiguous, and it means nobody is ever asked to donate and to receive in the same breath. If your situation changes, the role can be changed too.

If you are donating

1. Register. You create an account and tell us your blood group and how to reach you.
2. Verification. Confirming a rare group against a laboratory record is planned for a later phase. Until then your entry is recorded as self-reported, and it says so.
3. Set your availability. You control whether you are currently open to being contacted, and can change it at any time.
4. Be matched anonymously. If a patient near you needs your group, a coordinator contacts you. The patient never sees who you are.

If you need blood

1. Register and give us the details of the person who needs blood.
2. Nominate your doctor or accrediting organisation. We contact them to confirm.
3. The request goes to the register once confirmed, and coordinators begin contacting suitable donors.

Verification and anonymity

Donors and patients never see each other’s details. A coordinator sits in the middle of every match and is the only person who sees both sides. Nothing about your medical situation is published, shared with other members, or visible on this website.

Coordinators work from records that are masked by default — a reference, a status, a city and a blood group, and nothing that identifies you.

Controlled disclosure and consent

Sometimes a real name or a phone number genuinely has to be shared — with a hospital arranging a donation, for instance. When that happens you are asked first, you are told exactly what will be shared and with whom, and you can decline.

Inside the team the same rule applies: anyone who needs your contact details has to ask for them explicitly, and that request is recorded against their name and the time it happened, whether or not it was granted. Consent is not a checkbox you tick once at registration and forget.

What we are not

• We are not an emergency service. In an emergency, contact your hospital or blood bank.
• We do not deliver blood. We connect people; collection and transfusion happen through the medical system.
• We do not give medical advice and do not replace your doctor.