To walk out of blood donation

[awesmum]

I just did an hour round trip to donate blood, they were really conscientious about cleanliness and we were made to queue outside, clean our hands, maintain distance. Then it all fell apart, the nurse inside handed me a glass of water having touched all around the rim of the cup, handed me pen and paper, took glasses of other people - 12 in total, handed them back, gave out more pens and paper, handed crisps and biscuits, then scratched her head, took her glasses on and of put them on her head, put her hands in her pockets. And NOT once sanitised her hands, washed them or any other cleaning at all. Suffice to say I told her - she argued told me I was I wrong. I just watched her!! So I left. No blood donation, but I am not prepared to risk anyone I know or care about because someone who is seeing hundreds of people everyday isn’t bothered.

I donated blood yesterday and the staff were amazingly careful. I felt very safe during the whole thing.

There was almost no waiting too - we had real appointment times.

(The only down was that the usual water - offered on arrival- was an urn full of pink stuff. Apparently, this was a trial of an isometric drink. I had to ask for water and this had to be brought from behind the scenes. )

I take your point @over50andfab but I don't think it's quite that simple. If you touch something and clean your hands without touching your face then yes, you should be OK. But what about the donor staff who are not following proper procedures themselves? If I have Covid (which as we all know can be completely asymptomatic), I could easily have passed it to the donor assistant and then she can go on to spread it to other donors or colleagues - whether because they're not as vigilant with hand hygiene as they should be (though to be fair they may not unreasonably assume that the donor staff are themselves being vigilant!). Or because it can also spread through the air. I felt I had to walk out on that basis as much as because I was concerned for myself personally.

Equally, the donor assistant could have picked up Covid through her poor hygiene standards from someone else and then passed it to me through airborne transmission.

I just wish the donor team was as vigilant about it all as you are!

I give regularly and should be giving soon. I got the email asking me to make an appointment on Friday and had been prevaricating because I was worried - this has confirmed my worries and I'm not going.

I gave blood recently, it was the quickest and most efficient I've ever experienced bit I'm not sure I would have noticed the things you mentioned in any case

*but

I have to say thta even in normal circumstances I'm surprised how manky some blood donation people can be. Though not usually the ones doing the actual collection.

At thje height od swine flu one sneezed into her hands then went o do my fingerprick test and was affronted I asked her to wash/sanitize hands. Another time I had wet hands as there was no dryer of towels in the loo and the person on the desk said I should of used loo roll as thta what she did

I'm going next week so hope they are on the ball

YANBU. Blood banks are desperate for blood and that nurse is driving people away with her behaviour.

I haven’t donated blood since I went a couple of years ago and had an awful experience which culminated in me not donating.
YANBU OP. Shame to hear things haven’t improved.

This isn’t normal practice. I donated blood 3 weeks ago. The pen was disinfected, we served our own drinks after having to hand sanitise. After donation we had to hand sanitise before taking any (wrapped) snacks. No hot drinks to prevent people waiting around longer than they need to etc.

I agree that it shouldn't be up to us to risk assess @girasol. You did well to take a stand and make a complaint via the proper channels, on behalf of everyone.

I'm unable to donate unfortunately, but many thanks to all who do

I'm due to give blood in a couple of weeks, so I think I will go with my own wipes, pen, drink, snack, etc. Since we don't have to wait around anymore to make the next appointment, I could easily go sit in the car for a few minutes afterwards instead of at the table, and reduce the risks.

Is there any way of bringing this thread to the attention of the top management of the service?

I had a really good experience donating a couple of weeks ago.
I had an appointment time and was seen straight away, no waiting. You were not allowed in without using their hand sanitiser. There was a one way system in and out. The patient leaflets were sanitised - one was ready on the desk with the lower edge just over the edge of the table so you didn't even have to touch the table, pen on top. You had to return the one you had read with the pen to a box and a nurse sanitised her hands before wiping them all down and putting them along the table edge for the next person. Cups in a dispenser so you only touched the one you were going to use - I saw a staff member put on clean gloves to refill the dispenser which was done without actually touching the cups, only the wrapping around the cups! You were encouraged to use a clean serviette to press the button on the water dispenser, which was wiped regularly. All staff were really careful to distance except when they had to be close for clinical reasons. You had the same nurse from the blood test area through to leaving - they did everything - thumb prick, donation, drink and snack - staying with the one patient throughout and chatting to you as you donated. All put on clean gloves when you got to the blood test cubicle and removed them after sanitising the chair at the end, binned them in a lidded bin then sanitised their hands.
It felt really safe. Best experience of donating so far!

@multicolourmophead I’ve texted screenshots to the Assistant Director of NHS Blood and Transplant and have told him I’m giving no further donations for the time being (I was due to give my 30th!).

[quote girasol]@multicolourmophead I’ve texted screenshots to the Assistant Director of NHS Blood and Transplant and have told him I’m giving no further donations for the time being (I was due to give my 30th!).[/quote]
It will be interesting to see if procedures are tightened up, then. I'll go once, to see if my local unit are adhering to the requirements, but then make a decision on future donations. I'm O Neg, so I do get calls and pleas if I haven't made an appointment. It will be my 64th donation in a couple of weeks.

@Crystaltree of course the nurse couldn't have come out to the car park to do the shot. Basically have an unsheathed needle in public and jab your mum in the street/car park. along with having to carry the medication out in full view of everyone, all the bits and bobs ie tourniquet, sharps box etc etc. Lack of a sterile environment and also (possibly) not be covered by insurance as he/she would only be covered under insurance in the premises and for house/clinic calls. However I do empathise with your mums predicament of having to wait in the GP surgery waiting room for an hour; that shouldn't have happened. The same happened to me; I had an appointment at say 3pm and was waiting in the waiting room until 4pm. What should have happened was for patient to stay outside until the doctor/nurse is ready to see them, then the receptionist can give them a call to come in to the surgery and straight into the consultation room. That would have been the best solution.

I'm glad to hear your mum has recovered.

Thanks everyone for your input.
@girasol thank you for sending this. Hopefully it will be picked up on.
Thinking back on it, she sent me to a chair to sit and fill out the form saying I could lean on the donation leaflet, which had been left by the previous donor - they were all just left on the chairs for the next donor, not cleaned in between.
I didn't get as far as the finger prick test as I couldn't bare the thought to be honest.

I'm sorry if people are annoyed for me bringing this thread up again, but I went to make my donation today.

It went well, and all the rules put in place were adhered to, right down to the leaflets we have to read being laminated and wiped down between each use (I was watching).

So, hopefully the poor sessions posted about here were just one-offs, and that the rules have been tightened up all over. I really hope I wasn't just lucky to get a team that actually stuck to the procedures put in place. They should be in place for every session.

I donated at the end of March and I thought it was very well organised.

Except that we all dutifully washed our hands, kept our distance etc - and played on our mobile phones while waiting! The last bit wasn't so great, I think they should tell people not to use their mobile phones too.

I'm going this week and having read this thread, will take my own drink/snack/pen - thank you.