I would love to donate again - I donated a lot when I was younger - but they make it so difficult where I am and after my last experience I am in no rush to make an effort to book again.
There's a regular blood donation clinic in one of he function rooms at the local theatre that is round te corner from my flat. They no longer take walk in appointments(this happened long before covid), appointments are between 9-6pm (only bookable about 3/4 months in advance and almost impossible to get) and even with an appointment things never run on time so you can be there for 90mins/an hour, that's as long as they don't cancel your appointment at the last minute.
At my last donation, last year, I managed to get a 9am appointment on a day when I didn't start work until 11.30am, I have to leave for work at 11.10 at the latest so I figured that just over two hours was more than enough time to make the donation, head home get changed and get to work without being rushed.
I turned up at 8.55 for my appointment to find the blood donation van clearly having just pulled up as staff were all carrying the equipment into the venue and there was more on the van than inside. None of them seemed to be in any kind of hurry, stopping for chit chats between bringing stuff inside and the staff inside were setting up the room but nobody had any kind of urgency. At 9.05 i asked when we would be seen and was sharply told that they would be ready soon and I just had to be patient. By 9.20 there was now a few of us waiting in the main foyer of the building as we weren't allowed into the donation room until they were set up but nobody had given any kind of update. I asked again how much longer we would have to wait and was told "Shouldn't be long now" before they walked off.
At 9.30 a woman finally came out and said they were ready so everyone started to get up, at which point the woman snapped that not everyone could come in at once and we would be allowed in a few at a time, but then when we went in we were directed to another bunch of seats to wait until they could sign us in individually and get the ball rolling. This took another half an hour as they faffed around getting the right papers/forms and setting up their desk, drifting around to find the right box with forms in etc before we even got to the haemoglobin test and donation. I finally finished my donation at 10.50am, at which point I need to rush to get home and get changed to leave for work as it had taken nearly 2 hours for the whole process.
During the whole process everyone was just very dismissive, nobody communicated anything - there was one woman who was making her first donation and she had no idea what the process was/where to go/what to do but nobody explained anything to her and she was just wandering around the room trying to find the right place she was meant to be and being told off if she was in the wrong place - and I was made to feel like an inconvenience. Even when the nurse came round to check on us during the donation, she was holding a conversation with another nurse and barely even made eye contact, never mind actually spoke to us.
I left feeling exceptionally unappreciated and annoyed at the lack of courtesy I received from pretty much anyone - I don't think I heard a single please or thank you from any of the staff to anyone. I work in customer services and if I had had the attitude most of the blood donation staff had when I was at work then I'd have been pulled in to the office and told to sort myself out. I'm not expecting a brass band and staff falling over themselves to thank me for being so selfless as to donate, but it would be nice to be appreciated rather than treated with indifference (at best).
I keep getting emails and texts asking me to go and donate again but whenever I try to book an appointment it's almost impossible, and I am really not inclined to go out of my way to make an effort to be treated so badly again any time soon.