Brits in Catalonia donate blood after long-standing ban is lifted

Catalonia's annual Blood Donation Marathon, running from January 8–17, aims to collect 10,000 donations to replenish supplies depleted over Christmas.

This year, a new group can join the effort: former UK residents, previously barred from giving blood due to historic rules linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a rare neurological condition associated with mad cow disease.

For years, people who lived in the United Kingdom for more than 12 months between 1980 and 1996 were excluded from donating blood in Spain.

But in mid-2025, Spain's Ministry of Health revised the criteria after scientific reviews confirmed that the risk is extremely low. Catalonia's blood bank (Banc de Sang i Teixits) updated its protocols in December 2025 to reflect the change.

One Catalan resident who's part of this newly eligible group is Tess Humphrys, a British-born strategic communications consultant who has lived in Barcelona since 2019. 

Tess remembers the disappointment of discovering she couldn't donate when she first looked into it after moving here.

"When I moved back to Europe and Spain in 2019 I was like, yes, finally I'll be able to give blood, but then I investigated and found that this ban was in place for Brits," Tess told Catalan News.

The rule really bothered her because her mother had been a long-time blood donor, and she wanted to "give something back."

Tess followed developments closely, contacting the Catalan blood bank over the years to see when she would be allowed to donate, until late last year when Catalonia's updated protocols finally made it possible.

"A friend of mine told me in December, we can do it now in Catalonia. We were like yes! It's been a whole mission," she said.

Her first donation came at Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona during the January blood drive.

"It was very easy. You just rock up. I was very nervous waiting – it was my very first time ever – but it was really nice. It took eight minutes to fill the bag and then you get to have a nice sugary drink and lots of snacks. You sit and recover and feel good about the fact that you've done something good." 

Tess was joined by two friends on the day, and she hopes other Brits will take part too.

"Sometimes as a foreigner and immigrant here, with language and cultural barriers, you can struggle to feel that you're giving something back to the community. But this is a really easy way to give back and to contribute to the country and the region that we're living in," Tess said.

"I would highly recommend it." 

Blood donation points are spread across Catalonia, from hospitals to mobile collection sites in town centres. A full list of locations is available here.