I’m not sure “amusing” is quite the right word…x 
I’m rhesus A negative…so far there is no record of my blood group here…it actually made me cringe to watch A positive blood being transfused into that lady…
I wonder how often hospitals admit that they caused someone’s death due to giving them the wrong blood…???
Have you had any serious medical care in France Paul? In my experience the attention to detail is second to none.
I found my first blood test results easy to read as not only my numbers given but the acceptable norms for people of my age, weight and gender. All of my results were within the safe levels but a follow up appointment with my MT explained where tweets were advisable and how those tweaks could be made.
Well, it is supposed to be light-heartedly making a serious point.
I think that’s the point 
It’s very rare nowadays to even be given an ABO incompatible unit - in 2016 there were 3 reported ABO incompatible transfusions and 1 in 2017 although it is accepted that they are unreported given that some do not cause problems which are apparent during the transfusion itself. there are quite a lot of “near misses” though.
If you want to look at the data for the UK it is here
Is there an equivalent in France? At least the NHS is pretty transparent about all this.
the video was a very funny sketch… 
Thankfully, it bears no resemblance to the treatment that I and OH have received in French hospitals and clinics over the past 20 years. Second to none, I would say… and very grateful that it is such high quality. 
Thankfully no - but I am sure that the care is indeed exemplary.
Sometimes, I notice a bit of NHS bashing on SF which I don’t always think is fair especially as I (also only occasionally) see comments which suggest that healthcare in France is not always better or more up-to-date (problems with diet in hospital was one of them, not that the NHS is much good there and some comments people have made have suggested to me that their doctors still have a slightly arrogant attitude).
The blood group thing struck me as noticeably “different” to the UK where, as Stella says, no-one will expect a patent to know their blood group.
But the reason for that is that it really isn’t necessary to do so, the system relies on robust procedures for identification, sample taking, multiple checks etc - so relying on the patient knowing or remembering to have a card with them, for what is potentially unreliable information isn’t part of that system.
France certainly should be approaching blood transfusion with as much care - obviously that might have differences in the specifics to the system in the UK but the principles should be similar. I have a pretty good handle on how things work in the UK but none at all for how they actually work in France.
We haven’t, in fact, covered how the French organise things and whether they actually use the information from the patient - only that people seem to know it and are sometimes asked, it’s just that I would hope that it is never used as the sole piece of info to determine which units are issued.
It might well simply be a cultural holdover from the past, when more reliance was placed on the patient’s copy of their “blood group card”.
I hope that it is no reflection on any current NHS practice either - glad you found it amusing though.
I viewed it in the same light as the Carry On films…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9NpzFTHEi4
I have no personal experience of current NHS practice… as I live in France… 
There is a tendency now in the U.K. ,certainly in my trust , to wherever possible only give one unit of blood. Of course you can’t always do this , but the more blood you give the greater the potential for a reaction
Health care in France is difficult to compare to the NHS because of the different approaches taken. Your average French person after a lifetime in the French system will have compiled a pretty impressive dossier of their health records, a record that they keep. They will know the specialists that they are likely to need in the future and it’s quite likely they will know where those specialists are located too. They will have probably have a long record of blood tests. It’s not surprising that a French MT would be surprised that a patient was unaware of their blood group. That’s quite different to that knowledge being used in a surgical or emergency situation.
A lot less is used nowadays compared with the past - especially the surgeons are much better at controlling blood loss and using cell salvage during operations.
In fact physicians, particularly in oncology and haematology are now the biggest users of blood products.
But if you can transfuse a single unit, you probably don’t need to transfuse at all.
I’m surprised people don’t know their blood group, I’ve always known it since a teenager/young adult. Pregnancy, giving blood, lots of reasons to know… is it really that rare in UK not to know?
Changing tack slightly it disappoints me that the French won’t take my blood, as I’m AB negative.
I work in medicine ( mostly stroke) so I am out of touch as regards surgery/ oncology and it is rare we transfuse. There are however big posters on the ward asking the medical staff is a second unit necessary Most of the times we give a blood transfusion it is for a more long term issue rather than acute blood loss so other responses come into play and we don’t transfuse if Hb is above a certain level
I’m 56 and I don’t know my blood group which is actually worrying
Hi Jane… I understand/heard that some UK folk were not able to donate in France if they were in UK at the time of mad cow disease… or have I been dreaming… (quite possible).
I was a regular blood donor in the UK. Once I arrived in France, many years ago I naturally tried to do the same. The French will not take our blood, I even tried again last year with the same results ! 
Ah… so, I wasn’t dreaming…
No not at all, even waving my blood donors book at them didn’t work! I have to say that all my French friends are shocked and can’t understand why.
My French ‘partner’ on one memorable (because it was so long) occasion tried to elicit an intelligent response from ‘the powers that be’ but to no avail.
Maybe it’s because I have a dash of blue blood running through my veins 
Vive la révolution
I think Australia and New Zealand have the same restriction on UK folk…
Yup it’s mad cow disease related. I can’t give blood as I was in the UK during the specified period but my kids (who were born after that) can .
Blood group cards in France have about 6 different headings on them so ABO, rhesus, Kell and Duffy, also a couple of other things but I forget what and am too lazy to look.
Anyone who spent at least a year in the UK between 1986 (I am fairly sure it is 86, could be 88) and 1996 is ineligible to give blood in France, Germany and probably various other countries. It is a precaution because governments had scandals involving contaminated blood and other biological products used for treatment of haemophilia and growth problems (pituitary gland extract) and were keen to avoid another.
Yes CJD got into some blood products, which was a massive failure of laboratory systems. And caused the bulk of the UK deaths from vCJD. But that failure has been dealt with we are told.
So the only reason is that France believes that there are UK nationals who are carriers of CJD. Which I find somewhat hypocritical since France still pretends there was no mad cow disease in France, and so it can’t have crossed over to humans im France. Which has been shown to be wrong.
As of 2015 there have been 26 comfirmed deaths from vCJD in France, only one of whom had ever spent time in the UK. (The equivalent UK figure is 174, but since 2003 the max annual death toll has been 5, and none in last few years. So pretty similar rate to France)