The donation process

Booking Apointment Online

By booking with the website, you agree to the UBTS Blood and Transfusion general Terms of Use (including disclaimers), Privacy Policy , Cookie Usage , and the Terms and Conditions set out below:

We amend these terms of use from time to time, and the revised version will be effective when displayed here.

Terms of use

If you access any part of the UBTS Digital Service that requires you to enter any information you agree:

To ensure that any details which you supply to us to register for such access are accurate and to update your profile promptly if any of the details which you have supplied to us about you change;

To keep any personal blood details confidential i.e. test results, and to be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from use of your information by any third party;

That we reserve the right to terminate your access to the Service should we consider that your use of the service is detrimental to the Service or to other users.

We shall use any personal information you submit to the Service and other information we hold about you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. In particular, we shall use the information (including sensitive personal information relating to your physical health) to provide you with a blood donor information service as described. By registering for the service through this form, you give your consent to such use of your personal information.

While we will use our reasonable endeavours to ensure that the information provided by the Service is accurate, the service (including records of blood stocks, your blood type and quantities of blood donated) is provided to support your own records and you should always check with an appropriately qualified health professional before donating blood.

The Service

The Digital Service will allow you to undertake the following activities:

Find out where you can donate

Set and update your favourite locations to donate

Find locations to donate based on their proximity to your device

Book an appointment

View, change or cancel appointments

Check your eligibility to donate

View your recent donation history

View a digital version of your donor card

View notifications and messages

The service can be accessed by visiting ubts.go.ug or by downloading the UBTSBlood app (Apple and Android versions available).

You can access the Service filling in the book online page to book appointment to donate blood. You can also access the Service via your Facebook or Twitter account handles towards the bottom of the web pages.

Your information

When you book an appointment with the Service, you will be required to fill in web form.

When you enrol as a blood donor, your personal details are entered on to our blood donor database. Your record will in time contain some or all of the following types of information:

Your personal details: name, title, date of birth, gender, email address, blood centre, address, telephone number, city, region;

Attendance details: where you normally donate, your appointments and where and when you donated;

Donation details: including your blood group and the results from all the other tests we perform on your donations;

Correspondence: details of communications we have sent;

Location data: With your permission, the Service will use the location of the device you are using to recommend donation venues in your vicinity;

Other information: for example periods of unavailability because of travel or illness. Other information that may affect your eligibility to donate, or post-donation problems you have told us about.

How we use your information

We use this information:

to work out when and where to invite you to donate;

to communicate with you via:

- email
- text message
- notifications to your mobile device
- inbox messages (accessed via our digital service)
- phone call

to deliver information in relation to:

- when you are eligible to donate
- forthcoming opportunities to donate in your area
- confirming and preparing for donation appointments
- letting you know how we have used the blood you have donated
- information about other donation matters
- developments in our services
- opportunities to volunteer for research projects
- encouraging you to continue to donate.
We do our best to contact you in the way you prefer about the subjects you prefer. If you want us to change the way we contact you, please let us know by contacting our Toll-Free line on 0800 122 442, or email customer.services@ubts.go.ug.

to ensure your safety, and that of patients who may receive your donations. If we find a problem with your health, we will let you know. If appropriate we will also tell your GP, after asking your permission to do so.

for clinical audit, to assess and improve our service. We routinely audit all aspects of the donation process, for example to check that the Donor Health Check forms are completed properly, and that interviews with our healthcare professionals are conducted in accordance with the guidelines. Results of audits are always presented with all donor identities removed.

for research, to improve our knowledge about the donor population. By looking at the sorts of people who become active donors, we can understand better how to meet their expectations of us, and identify opportunities for recruiting and retaining more donors. This is essential to help us to collect adequate supplies of all types of blood.

For management and administration, for example to help us to plan where and when to hold collection sessions. Whenever personal identifiers are not needed for these tasks, if possible we remove them from the information we use.

All information about you and your blood donations is stored securely in our systems to ensure that we have a complete record of your donations. We also keep the Donor Health Check forms you complete every time you attend to donate. We are required by law (The Blood Safety and Quality Regulations 2005) to keep donor and donation information for a minimum of 30 years.

It is very important to us to keep your address and contact details up to date, so that we are able to stay in touch. To do this we may compare the details we hold with central NHS records or those of other organisations that offer approved services for checking and updating addresses.

Other than for keeping our own records up to date against central records, we do not allow any other organisation to access the donor base.

We do not give or sell donor details to any third parties.

As part of the NHS our lawful basis to hold and process data is set out in articles 6(e) and 9(h) of current data protection legislation. In summary, it necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, which in the case of NHSBT is to enable the collection and processing of the donations required to produce blood products for NHS hospitals. For full details, visit the NHSBT Privacy Statement.

Website usage

We automatically track certain anonymous information about all our website users based on what you do on the site. We use this information to analyse our users' demographics, interests, and behaviour on the site to understand and serve you better. We do not use this data to identify an individual. For further information about the cookies we use visit our Cookie Information page.

Our responsibilities

We are committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your donor record. We actively implement security measures to ensure your information is safe, and audit these regularly. All our staff and anyone who receives information from us have a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

We will not release your personal details to any third party without first seeking your consent, unless this is allowed for or required by law.

We are constantly working to ensure compliance with current data protection legislation.

Your rights

Data protection legislation gives you, the donor, various rights. The most important of these are as follows:

You have the right to a copy of information we hold about you.

You have the right to ask for your record to be amended if you believe that it is wrong.

You have the right to be forgotten. You can request to be removed from the Service if you have yet to make a donation or provided any medical information.

If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact our helpline 0800 122 422 or email customer.services@ubts.go.ug.

Further information about data protection legislation and your rights is available from the Director's office or by calling 0414 259 195/ 0414 257 155, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

How to access your records

You can access the information we hold about you by writing to the Customer Services Team at the address given below. Please include as much information as possible to help us locate your records, including your full name, date of birth and address, plus your Donor ID if you have it. It will also help us know if we are to look for recent records, or from how long ago. Please apply in writing rather than by email, so that we receive an original signature to compare against the records we hold.

Sometimes, we may have to ask for more details in order to identify you correctly and locate the information you are interested in. If you only want some of your record, rather than everything, then please tell us when you apply. Subject access is provided free of charge. You may choose whether to visit your nearest NHS Blood and Transplant centre to collect your records, or to have Royal Mail Special Delivery to your home address.

We will provide access to your records within 30 days of receipt of all necessary information, and fee if applicable.

Please make you request in writing to:

Customer Services
Uganda Blood Transfusion Services
Nakasero Blood Bank
Hill Road Nakasero