It’s in our blood to improve the health of future generations
Since 2021, NHS Blood and Transplant have been working with Our Future Health, a ground-breaking, ambitious research programme. It aims to find new ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases to help everyone live longer, healthier lives.
Through our partnership, donors are invited to sign up when they donate blood and help transform how we tackle disease.
What is Our Future Health?
Our Future Health is the UK’s largest ever health research programme, bringing millions of people together to revolutionise the way we fight disease.
By collecting information from millions of volunteers across the UK, researchers can learn more about how different factors affect our health and wellbeing. This can help them to develop new medicines, tests, tools and equipment to prevent, detect and treat diseases earlier.
How to get involved
So far, over 85,000 blood donors have got involved.
If you are already a blood or platelet donor, you will have received an invitation to join Our Future Health by email.
If you’re not currently a blood donor you can find out more about the programme and join by visiting the Our Future Health website, where you will need to:
- sign a consent form to agree to take part
- fill in an online questionnaire about your health and lifestyle
You must also allow Our Future Health to:
- use a small sample of your blood donation for DNA analysis
- access your health records securely
- contact you in the future for more information or to invite you to take part in other research
How will you benefit?
By joining Our Future Health, you will be helping researchers to make discoveries about human health and disease. This could help people to live longer and healthier lives.
You may also get personalised feedback on your risk of certain diseases based on your DNA and lifestyle information in the future, if you want it.
How your data and information is protected
Your data and information will be used only for health-related research that matches the consent you gave. It will be stored securely and protected by law.
Our Future Health’s Access Board decides who can use data and samples. They only approve research that is for public good and meets ethical standards.
Find out more about how your data is stored on the Our Future Health website