NHS has issued it's first ever Amber alert for blood supplies

[BluSquid]

news.sky.com/story/nhs-declares-first-amber-alert-as-blood-supplies-drop-low-12718647

They need more donations, especially O-. They're talking about postponing non-critical surgeries, which have probably already been delayed so much thanks to covid.

I’m o- and used to donate. Last time I went was pre-covid and there was a mix up with the forms and they turned me away, they didn’t have any spare forms available and the printer wasn’t working. Was a shambles really. It’s been a nightmare ever since trying to book appointments and I gave up trying in about 2019. The admin side of things has totally ruined the system. I can’t donate anymore as now have Graves’ disease.

I wanted to give blood but the next appointments were months away and they wanted me to do a 1hr round trip in the car, which costs too much petrol. I tried again another time but they said they had enough A blood already. So I quit trying.

And I tried just now and there’s a 1hr queue just to access the website!

Their website is rubbish. I'm a regular donor and I want only to be shown centres with available appointments but no, it shows you upcoming dates, you click into the date and there are no appointments available.

That gives you a BMI of 16 which is well into the underweight range. If they didn’t take their responsibility properly to advise you that you may not be robust enough to donate they would be wrong. So although you may find it ‘frustrating’ if they treat you as a ‘frail thin thing’ they are simply following their duty of care.

@EBearhug sorry, I was just ranting.

My point is that I know my condition and I know how likely I am to have an issue.

Goodness no! I didn't explain very well. You need to be 7 stone 12 to donate.
I have been asked if I am over that weight. I am indeed.
What I was trying to say was that if I was shorter and as slim as I am then I could likely be under their minimum weight.
They probably didn't realise how tall I was when I was sitting in the chair trying to donate.

There is a way around that. I think you have to omit your location details so you can just browse around. Something like that.

www.scotblood.co.uk/
For Scotland

Ive just queued on their website for 30mins and the only appointments are in January

No Scottish sites available at all.

I'm type O which they say they desperately need but no available appointments. Now I'm waiting for an email to tell me whether I can book one or not. Its so much faff. I just cba with it, I've too much to do to tit about with it. If it were easier I'd donate regularly.

Same here. I've been turned down twice due to haemoglobin levels, but neither has been humiliating. They have always been lovely.

Just checked the city I'm in and all of the surrounding towns and villages. Nothing until 22nd November.

Obviously still good to do it though/find out how to.

I'm O negative and I gave blood for years. Then the local (very busy) donation centres stopped being used by the NHS in favour of a centralised place. Now if I want to give blood it's a drive across town or to the next town. This is hugely inconvenient because I can't drive after giving blood and don't want to rely on lifts/taxis especially as the whole experience can take 1.5 hours because of the long waiting time to donate.

Maybe if the NHS made it easier to give blood and better managed their clinics they wouldn't be in this situation 🤔

DH is O- & was long scheduled to donate tomorrow. I told him to Polish his Halo.
I have useless AB+ & I tend to faint if I donate, so ... won't donate.
DC are B+ (my bad) so that's not any help, either.

I can’t remember my type but last I checked I can’t donate anyway. Unless they overturned the rule about never donating ever again once you’d had a transfusion yourself?

Can’t they do anything about this no-donation-after-transfusions? We’re supposed to have all this fancy technology. It is frustrating.

I haven’t donated for 15 years (so 30-45 missed units). I live in a major city but it’s nigh on impossible to get an appointment. And they seem to have stopped community donations way before covid. I think the blood service is part of the issue tbh.

but I am O- so will look into it (I have an operation next week so think that might make me ineligible for a while)

I am o neg and always look for appointments, never any I can get to. I walked past one once that was v empty and was turned away as it was for pre booked only. It’s not the staff’s fault of course, but the process is very frustrating

I'm O- but I can't give blood anymore after I had a transfusion after my first child. It seems a shame, and also worries me about why!

I can't donate blood unfortunately as I had a blood transfusion after losing 3L giving birth to my first child. I'm Rhesus Neg too which I believe is just a little more unusual but not totally uncommon.
But just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has donated blood and will be. I think when you receive blood in a critical situation, it really makes you appreciate all the donors out there ❤

This is only an issue in England atm.

ironically I’ve just been banned from donating ever again because I keep getting false positives on the tests that they run post donation. I can’t give platelets either but they said I can donate my organs - I’m not quite ready for that yet though!!