Giving blood. Why is it so hard to find an appointment?

[TheVortex]

Reading this today
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46220676

I don't agree that anyone should be paid to give blood personally. However it seems really hard to actually do it!

When there are blood shortages, I want to give blood, but around here, finding an appointment is really difficult. Walk in slots don't seem to exist in most places anymore

I'm in the south. Wondering if there are areas where fewer people donate ? Or is it that the donation services can't keep up?

I don’t know why they have made it so hard, used to be they were really helpful to anyone who meandered in and offered.

Twice my appointment has been cancelled at the very last minute, so I am irritated at the whole system.

My husband donates but I can't. He had to wait about 4 months initially but now we rebook as soon as he donates. I go on the website as few hours before he goes then you get the best choice of slots. I am in a fairly big city and there are about 8 places you can donate.

I work near a permanent centre, and it just about works all right if I book the next appointment immediately after the last one, but if life gets in the way and I have to cancel and rebook it gets incredibly difficult.

The main gripe I have is that the staff are so grumpy. I feel like the worst inconvenience to them every time I give blood. The last time I got someone who was actually nice to me I was pathetically grateful (and I did thank her profusely for being so kind).

GaryBaldbiscuit Mon 19-Nov-18 22:48:30
but persuaded by a thread on mumsnet in March, i booked, 4 months later i donated blood,
another 4 months later, donated again,
i have again booked,4 months in advance.
It can be done, if you want it.

RTT? what if your appointment gets cancelled at the last minute?! as has happened to me (and seemingly many other posters) on the last two occasions.

That's another thing, the staffing has been reduced massively, if even the slightest thing goes wrong there's no spare capacity to deal with it any more. I'm guessing that's why you can't rebook at a session any more as it takes up staff time. When I first started donating (25+ years ago) the nurse would sit with you throughout the donation, then another would supervise the beds you had to lie down on for ten minutes afterwards (woe betide you if you tried to cut that short).

I also agree that mobile units visiting factories etc must have been great for recruitment, that's how I started, pretty well my whole department would go over the course of the visit. I will admit that once you've got your appointment the donation process is far quicker than it used to be when there were no appointments snd everyone just queued, it could easily take 2 hours. So its not all bad.

It is difficult. I just donated about two weeks ago and while I usually book my next appointment while recovering at the refreshments table, this time I didn't, only to realise when I finally sat down to book a few days ago that my preferred location was already booked up for the next 7 months.

It's frustrating, but if you're willing to plan way ahead, it can be done. I do suspect that if you have a rare blood type they may fall over themselves to accommodate you as a walk-in

I went online to find out when and where my local donation sessions were... only to find that the info was not available unless you spent quite a while creating an account using lots of your personal details.

Who the fuck decided that it would be a good idea to make that information difficult to access?!

I don't even know whether I want an account until I know whether I'm likely to be able to make any of the donation sessions!

I went online to find out when and where my local donation sessions were... only to find that the info was not available unless you spent quite a while creating an account using lots of your personal details. Who the fuck decided that it would be a good idea to make that information difficult to access?!

The executives running the service. Apparently there's overwhelming donor feedback that this is what they wanted. They're not able to publish this feedback because of "commercial interests". But it's very real - they told me on the phone. Honest guv.

DGRossetti

Of course!!

I can think of so many potential "commercial interests" that would be affected by that.

I can think of so many potential "commercial interests" that would be affected by that.

Well there are countries that pay donors and sell the blood

That said, when I wanted to know a tune that was playing in Wilkos a few years ago, I asked at customer services, to be told that music was actually piped in via the internet, and I'd have to email head office. Which I did. Head Office replied that they used an external company to "curate their customers listening experience in store" and that they were unable to supply details of playlists or individual songs played due to "commercial sensitivities".

The moral of this (long ) story is that SoundHound and Shazam aren't that good .

at Wilko's and their Official Musical Secrets Act!

If they told you, they'd probably have to kill you...

Yes it can be difficult to get an appointment. I don't bother with any of my local places and book at the main place in central London. If it a couple of months in advance then there are loads of appointments.

It is tricky. They used to come to my place of employment, which made it easy, but stopped a few years ago. So I had a gap of a few years for donating as I worked full-time and could never get an appointment near me outside working hours. I'm back into the swing of doing it regularly now, but I now live and work near one of the permanent centres, so it is easier, particularly as they open later than the mobile units.

There needs to be more evening and weekend appointments available. I really believe in giving blood, but it was so frustrating for those years that I didn't do it that there were never any appointments available.

I've talked to them and it seems there is a priority system based on what the current demand is for.

New donors with unknown blood types more likely to get cancelled in favour those with required blood. Also seems that the online booking thing also will give different information for priority donors... not sure about this though

Makes sense if it's demand led. However if an account is flagged as in demand blood group, and that one should call for a priority appt. tried this and they just aren't interested in finding a slot.
They need to cancel the unknowns sooner than 30 mins before time and offer the appointments to the priority blood donors!

That's interesting that it is about your profile, which does make sense, but they need to take into account that people have to arrange time off work, childcare etc and if having done all that their appointment gets cancelled at very short notice they may well not try again.