STRIDES Study Reaches Million-donor Milestone

The NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) blood donor management research project, STRIDES, now has more than one million donors taking part in the main cluster randomised trial, just 18 months after its launch.

An NHSBT partnership with the University of Cambridge and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the STRategies to Improve Donor ExperienceS (STRIDES) study began in November 2019 and is considering the effect of different interventions on the blood donation experience.

STRIDES is one of several blood donor studies coordinated by the NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Donor Health and Genomics at the University of Cambridge.

Ella Poppitt, Chief Nurse – Blood Donation, at NHSBT said: “We are very proud of all the work that has been completed to achieve this incredible milestone of one million donors recruited to the main STRIDES study.

“We are extremely grateful to every donor that has contributed and the efforts on the ground by the blood collection and research teams to enable this to happen.

“This study will improve the effectiveness of interventions on a blood donation session that will make donation even safer for the donor.”

The interventions include changes to leaflets that donors read before donation, drinks offered in the waiting area, and advice given during and after donation.

The study has two additional objectives:

1. to collect blood samples and questionnaire data from whole blood donors for research purposes.
2. to establish a panel, or BioResource – part of the NIHR BioResource, of thousands of healthy volunteers who are willing to be contacted and asked if they wish to participate in medical and health-related studies.

STRIDES is taking place across all our blood donation centres and mobile sessions and is due to conclude in November 2022.

• For more information, visit strides-study.org.uk, call 0800 021 7182 (Mon to Fri: 9:00 – 17:00), or email helpdesk@strides-study.org.uk.