Blood donations - still important?

[ChinBristles]

Hello

When I were a lass in the 90s, there were lots of adverts about giving blood, how important it was. And blood drives and vans coming round to make it easy to donate.

In my city in Scotland there is only ONE blood donor centre and I never hear of vans or adverts.

I know there are more synthetic options now but why is much less of a thing now? (I have booked in to start giving again, now that I no longer get tattooes etc!)

Thanks

It’s absolutely vital and none of the blood services in the U.K. have enough donors.

I work in a blood transfusion lab (in Scotland) and we very much still very much rely on blood donors. Rural areas get the mobile vans whereas cities have fixed blood donor centres.

Completely still an important and life saving thing to do. I believe it’s less “of a thing” due to, as everywhere else, lack of staffing and funding.

It's changed lots since the 90s when I started donating.

Very few walk ins -none- and most people make appointments and the sessions near me are nearly always full.

Less of a thing because the cuts mean they have stopped doing the things that make it easy to give blood. I keen seeing signs for particular blood types, but have stopped giving because I cant get to the locations now and I can't make an appointment (online system just won't work for me and getting an answer on the phone is proving impossible). I'm quite sad about not donating again but it is just too difficult now.

Im O-, so get hounded to book an appointment. Phone calls, texts, emails, letters. Constantly.

But then when i go to book an appointment there's nothing nearby at all, so I can't book an appointment to stop getting hounded.

I used to give blood regularly but it's so difficult now. I made an appointment in December for May (which was the next available session) and it was cancelled.

I'm also o- and always get a barrage before I'm coming up to an appointment to make sure I'm still coming.

My husband had blood cancer, had countless blood transfusions and I am eternally grateful for each and every one as he wouldn't still be here otherwise. Giving blood is so important. If you follow your local blood donation service on Facebook they'll tell you each time they open up the next block of slots and you'll be able to book.

I'd imagine like everything else, any lack of availability is down to budget cuts. Please remember the actual lifesaving donations at the end of it, people's spouses, children, parents, are real people. The blood service are not trying to personally inconvenience you by making booking an appointment awkward.

I used to give twice a year when the van came to work (800 employees), but since that closed down and I worked elsewhere I could never find a time/place I could go so gave up looking.

There was an ad on STV 20 mins ago looking for donors and I checked where I could donate, but there is still nowhere unless I take a precious day of annual leave to do it.

O-neg too and can't seem to get anything locally any more.

I also hate that masks are still mandated throughout the process. I find donating painful and a chore, wearing a mask for 45 mins is just another off-put for me.

I am O+. I donate every 16 weeks. I live in inner London so am very fortunate to have any number of places in easy reach where I can donate. I book my next appointment just after I donate. Online system works very well for me.

It is as important as it ever was.

The appointment system was a faff initially but since it moved on-line, I get the time I want fairly easily.

You get a text when the session appointments open and if you are relatively quick off the mark, it is fine.

We have the vans come out to us.

I'm getting regular letters and texts asking me to donate (O+ apparently lower than they would like in my area).

Unfortunately I'm not eligible due to low haem (asked not to come back for 2 years last time I went but despite contacting them I'm still on the contact list).

I'm in Scotland too and if anyone is O+, hasn't donated recently and would like to on my behalf it would help with the irrational guilt every time I get a text!

Go onto Scotblood website stick in your postcode and you'll usually find a session somewhere close(ish). They just bus the stuff around various community locations, so you don't need to go into a city if you don't want to but admittedly you might need to travel a few miles to get to a community location.
It can be a bit of annoying not being able to just rock up and donate but really worth the effort if you can. My family are forever grateful to fabulous donors!

Yes, I still donate regularly (O+). It can be hard finding appointments though, it's ok if I rebook immediately after donating but if I have to cancel its hard to get another slot in anything under about 3 months. They seem to be doing fewer and fewer sessions where I live, I go in the town where I work now instead. When my DCs were primary school age and I had to pick them up / take them to evening activities it was almost impossible.

On the plus side, since the advent of appointments it is SO much quicker. I remember the endless queueing of 20 years ago, took half the evening.

I don't really understand how so many people don't donate blood. If you can, you should.

We all expect blood to be available in an emergency.

I have veins like gossamer which makes it hard for the phlebotomists. I am often anaemic, but I still go every time I am due. I do sometimes get sent away due to hb levels, and usually feel pretty rough for a few hours afterwards - but I still go.

Most people can breeze in and out and feel perfectly fine and I just don't understand why more people don't feel obliged to donate. It's a tiny inconvenience that can save a life.

I've been today, and masks were not mandatory. It seems to get faster each time I go - the process gets slicker. When they first brought appointments in it was awful but it's a good experience now. Plus there are biscuits 😁

I’m due shortly ditalini

There is a pint of my blood with your name on it. 🙂

Thanks everyone!

And lovely to hear from people who have benefitted from a donation too, you are welcome :-)

@SheldonesqueTheBstard

I'm o+ and booked in for Monday @ditalini

It’s a bit of a pain, especially since the sessions seem to run at a venue 12 weekly and they’ve changed the rules so women can only donate 16 weekly now. I’m on 18 donations in 6 years so I’m not doing so badly. It was one of the first things I did when I turned 17

Unfortunately I’ve found it much harder to donate since covid. Used to be a regular but my local site won’t let children accompany you anymore. I used to find it really easy to go to mobile lorry thing that was near my work but not seen one around. I’d also become a bit of a problem donor after my first pregnancy. Was iron was often too low to donate and they really struggled with my veins. I’ve been close to being booted off the list for failed donations a number of times.

Another O Neg here. I used to be a regular despite it not being a nice experience (my blood never wants to come out and my veins don't want to be found). However, with the booking in advance, the lack of mobile units meaning I have to travel a fair distance and masks required, I am no longer keen.