Blood Group Blood Test

There are only three ways to know for certain: a laboratory blood group test like this one, donating blood, or a record from a previous transfusion, pregnancy or surgery where you were grouped. You cannot work it out from your parents' types with certainty, because two type A parents can have a type O child, and there is no reliable way to tell from appearance, personality or diet. Around 48 percent of people in the UK are group O, 38 percent A, 10 percent B and 3 percent AB; about 15 percent are rhesus negative.

Usually not. Blood type is only tested when there is a clinical reason, before surgery, in pregnancy or before a transfusion, and even then it may sit in the hospital's transfusion laboratory records rather than your GP record. GPs cannot order a blood group test just to tell you your type, because the NHS does not test for information alone. If you have given birth in the UK, your maternity notes will record it; otherwise a private test or donating blood are the routes.

Yes, and it is free: NHS Blood and Transplant groups every new donor and tells you your type after your first donation, usually within a few weeks. It is a good option if you are eligible to donate, aged 17 to 65 for a first donation, healthy and not excluded by travel, medication or medical history. A private test is for people who cannot or do not want to donate, want the result sooner, or need a formal laboratory report for a purpose such as an overseas job, visa or medical file.

Card-based home kits, which mix a drop of finger-prick blood with reagents and ask you to read clumping by eye, are usually right but are prone to misreading, particularly for rhesus status and for weak subgroups, and they produce no record anyone else will accept. This test is performed in an accredited laboratory by the same methods NHS transfusion laboratories use, and you receive a laboratory report. If knowing your type matters to you, that reliability is the point.

Mainly for two situations. Transfusion: receiving incompatible blood causes a severe, sometimes fatal reaction, which is why hospitals always group and cross-match before transfusing rather than relying on what you tell them. Pregnancy: rhesus-negative women carrying a rhesus-positive baby can develop antibodies that affect a later pregnancy, so RhD status is checked at booking and anti-D injections are given where needed. Beyond those, knowing your type is useful when working or travelling somewhere blood supplies are limited, and some people simply want to know. Claims that blood type should dictate diet or predicts personality are not supported by evidence.

The test hospitals do before surgery: your blood is grouped for ABO and RhD, screened for antibodies, and the sample is saved so that compatible blood can be issued quickly if needed. It is not done for information and the result may not be given to you. This test reports the same ABO and RhD grouping to you directly.

AB negative is the rarest in the UK, around one percent of people, followed by B negative. O negative, about 8 percent, is the universal red cell donor, because it has no A, B or RhD antigens to react with a recipient's antibodies, which is why hospitals stock it for emergencies. AB positive is the universal plasma donor. If your result is one of the rarer types, NHS Blood and Transplant would particularly welcome you as a donor.

No preparation at all: eat, drink and take medication as normal. Blood grouping needs a whole-blood venous sample, so it cannot be done from a finger-prick kit; book at one of 250+ Goodbody clinics across the UK and the draw takes a few minutes. No GP referral is needed.

Your ABO group and your RhD status, for example A positive or O negative, on a laboratory report with your details, the date and the laboratory's accreditation. It is suitable for your own records and for employers or organisations that ask for documented blood type, though hospitals will always re-test before a transfusion regardless of any prior record.

No. Your ABO and RhD type are set by your genes and stay the same for life. The only exception is after a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, when you gradually take on the donor's blood type. If you were told a different type years ago, one result was a recording or reading error, and a laboratory test settles it.

£109 at a Goodbody clinic, including the blood draw, laboratory grouping and your report. Home card kits cost £10 to £20 but give no record; donating blood is free if you are eligible and can wait for the result.

Results are emailed within 3 to 5 working days of your sample reaching the laboratory, as a report stating your ABO group and RhD status.