Do you know your blood group?

No one will ever be given blood without it being 'cross matched' to make sure that no reaction occurs. A medical professional would never take a blood group as provided by the patient.

In an emergency there are fluids such as Haemaccel which will be given until the cross matched blood is available. And indeed as a totally last resort, Group 0 can be given, but that would be avoided if at all possible.

Yes, I know my blood group and that my blood coagulates very slowly due to my reduced ability to absorb vitamin K.

Our blood group is recorded in the bar code of our health insurance cards here in Denmark and any doctor will tell you what it is if you ask.

It is of course illegal here to give a blood transfusion without first checking the patient's blood group. Surely that is still the case in the UK? It certainly used to be.

I can have any kind of blood, but I still had it checked when I had a heart attack and a stent was fitted in an emergency. It didn't take long.

They took blood from me in the ambulance and it was tested in the time it took to get me on to an operating table and take my clothes off.

If it really mattered we’d all have it tattooed on our foreheads ?

Please yourself then, suziewoozie.

grandtanteJE65

Yes, I know my blood group and that my blood coagulates very slowly due to my reduced ability to absorb vitamin K.

Our blood group is recorded in the bar code of our health insurance cards here in Denmark and any doctor will tell you what it is if you ask.

It is of course illegal here to give a blood transfusion without first checking the patient's blood group. Surely that is still the case in the UK? It certainly used to be.

That’s a good system but of course we don’t have that. My link explains what happens in an emergency. If I had a particular concern about my blood type and was a real worrier I’d wear a Medic-Alert bracelet or pendant. DH does for his T1 diabetes as I’ve always worried about him having a hypo and being thought of as just a drunk. Yes I know it relies on his being checked but it’s better than nothing

Alishka

I'm the Universal 0 positive. My card is in the back of my purse, along with other Essentials - Credit cards, Store cards etc - and now the NHS Covid vaccine card.
@ Suzie, see upthread, where peeps have given explanations

Goodness, what is the NHS Covid vaccine card Alishka? I have had the first dose of vaccine but have nothing to prove that I have.

Esspee You must have a small card with date and which vaccine you were given, if indeed you have had a vaccine. they don't just give a vaccine and off you wander with no record of it in your possession.

O positive seems a high percentage of us are.

suziewoozie go and have another lay down, you're going over the top again. They majority know how to look up what you have posted. Just a thread to ask if we did or didn't know our group.

No-one I know here in Glasgow was given aa vaccine card.

We were given the card. It states the name of the vaccine, batch number and date of the first dose. It has space for recording the same information about the second dose when we've had it. The front of the card instructs to keep it safe in a wallet or purse. I wonder why you and others you know weren't given one Marydoll Maybe it's just an England thing then as I think the regions are responsible for their vaccine rollouts.

I have known my BG since I started giving blood at aged 18, I went along with my Dad, they gave all blood donors a card with blood group. My Dad was B Pos, I remember the excitement when they took his blood straight to the hospital as it is one of the rarer types. I gave more than forty pints of blood before I moved abroad. Unfortunately, I have had to have four pints back, but happily still in credit.

Marydoll

No-one I know here in Glasgow was given aa vaccine card.

I am in Scotland and have had the AZ vaccine. I didn't get a card though and none of my friends have had one either.

Rosie, we were just told the name of the vaccine and that was it! I do know it's on my medical records, as my GP mentioned it yesterday.

My husband and I knew our blood groups and chose to have our children tested so that in an emergency we would know which of us could be donors for each other.
When next visiting our paediatrician I asked him to update the children’s records with their blood group.
He went ballistic. According to him it was child abuse. I didn’t bother to question him on his attitude, it had been done already but in retrospect I did wonder why he objected so strenuously.

lemsip

Esspee You must have a small card with date and which vaccine you were given, if indeed you have had a vaccine. they don't just give a vaccine and off you wander with no record of it in your possession.

That is exactly what happened to everyone I know here.

I am another O+ from Blood donations and probably from doctor's records.
When my DS first discovered he was A+, he boasted that at least he was top in something.

Blood Groups

O positive: 35%
O negative: 13%
A positive: 30%
A negative: 8%
B positive: 8%
B negative: 2%
AB positive: 2%
AB negative: 1

I’m the same as growstuff - all to do with a lack of irregular antibodies, apparently.

My husband and I both got vaccination cards

I've known that my blood group is A positive since I was pregnant with my first child.
My mother was A- and my dad was A+. My sisters and I had to be delivered at the large maternity hospital in the next town in case we needed blood when we were born.

The vaccination card is issued by Public Health England with a gateway number.

Redhead56

I was a blood donor my blood type is RH neg group A. When I had my children I asked their blood group and wasn’t told. I think it’s every bodies right to know too.

I agree Redhead. Your blood group should be recorded in your medical record, just as your allergies and medication is recorded. Apart from all the medical reasons, I think we have a right to know our own blood group, just as we have the right to know who our father is (I strongly objected to allowing anonymous sperm donors). It's knowing who you are. Susie, you may not care but I and others do.

I happen to be the rarest which is AB Negative, and I am also interested in family groups. I'd like to make a family tree of blood groups but it's virtually impossible because so many are not known.

The vaccination card is issued by Public Health England. It includes a gateway number, but I have no idea what that is.