Privacy/Legal

Security and our Electronic Health History Questionnaire

In July 2016, Canadian Blood Services introduced a new electronic health history questionnaire, replacing the paper record of donation.  The electronic questionnaire is completed by donors at home or at clinic prior to making a blood, plasma or platelet donation.  To learn more about the security of your personal information in this process, please see below:

Completing the Questionnaire at Home:

  • If you choose to complete your health history questionnaire at home prior to attending the clinic, you will be required to sign in using your Canadian Blood Services account user name and password and you will only be able to complete the questionnaire on the day of your appointment.
  • The answers you provide are not stored or transmitted on the web. Your responses are compiled into an encrypted barcode which you print and bring with you to the clinic.
  • The barcode can only be scanned at a Canadian Blood Services clinic and is only valid on the day of your donation – the barcode expires by midnight (Eastern time) on the day of your appointment.
  • Your personal information is not stored by Canadian Blood Services until you attend the clinic and scan the bar code at a screening booth.

Completing the Questionnaire at Clinic:

  • If you choose to use the in-clinic kiosk tablets to complete your health history questionnaire, your personal health information is not stored on the tablet and the data related to your responses is not available to other donors.
  • The tablets and the Canadian Blood Services internal network to which the tablets connect are encrypted to protect your information.
  • The tablets are physically secured with all device ports locked down to prevent unauthorized connectivity.

Our online processes have had security assessments prior to the launch of the electronic health history questionnaire. 

Online Security

Tips for Staying Secure Online

Canadian Blood Services takes online security seriously. We take great care in ensuring that our systems are thoroughly tested and managed in a manner that ensures that the information provided by our donors is not accessible to any unintended parties.

Maintaining IT security is all about cultivating the right habits. There are some important steps that donors can take to protect themselves online:

Picking and Protecting Passwords
Never share your password with others and never respond to email requests for your password, even if the email appears to come from a CBS employee.

  • Don’t write your password on a sticky note.
  • Don’t be too obvious when choosing your password. Don’t use words such as names of family members/pets, or other information that might be found in your purse or wallet

Staying Safe Online

  • Limit the amount of personal information you post when using social media tools such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube
  • Avoid letting your browser save your passwords.
  • Ensure website URLs start with HTTPS when accessing personal information

Safe Computing Practices

  • Always use up-to-date anti-virus software.
  • Log off, or at a minimum lock your screen, when stepping away from your computer
  • Always log out of websites when you’re finished.
  • Enable password locks/PINs on your mobile device. 
  • Do not open suspicious email. If you receive an e-mail message from an unknown person that contains an attachment, do not open it. The e-mail may contain a virus.
  • For smartphones and tablets, only install apps from official app stores.
  • Read permission requests before installing apps to ensure the information they’re accessing is appropriate.
  • Install the latest app and operating system updates for your device.

Donor eligibility questions, general enquiries and technical issues

For donor eligibility questions, general enquiries and technical issues contact our National Contact Centre:

Access to information and privacy enquiries

For access to personal information and privacy enquiries contact our privacy team:  

For enquiries related to requests for corporate information, please contact corporateinformation@blood.ca.

Security related enquiries

For security related enquiries contact our Security team: