To think I shouldn’t have to take time off work to donate blood?

[Namechange202323]

I’m a regular donor. Used to be able to get local appointments after work - as late as 8pm, or even take a long lunch when WFH for a ‘medical appointment’.

now it’s impossible to get a convenience appointment anywhere near where I live or work, very few mobile sessions available and those that are are fully booked. I can’t book for 2024 as slots aren’t out that far in advance. The only slot I can get is at 2pm in the afternoon and would take 2 hours to get there, say 90 mins there, so I’d need to take at least a half day holiday. AIBU to think there should be more availability or weekend slots? I’ve been having this issue for a year or so meaning I’ve been unable to donate as regularly as I just don’t have the leave.

I donated yesterday and booked my next appointment online for November. Always can get an appointment here.

Please don't do that. The experience of Creutzveldt Jakob and HIV tells us that there may be unknown unknowns lurking in our blood. And if there are, then every pint of blood you receive doubles your risk.

For you, this nebulous risk was worth it, because you might have died without it. But for the person on the operating table, waiting for a unit of blood, it's the difference between doubling their background risk, (which is unavoidable if they really need a donation), or trebling it if they take your double-risk blood.

I used to donate at the blood bus at a local car park. That’s never come back since Covid so nearest centre is more than an hours drive, open during the work day.

They are welcome to have a free pint of my blood but I’m not paying petrol/ taking a day off.

@Ladysaurus

Do you mind if I ask how minimum stock levels are determined these days?

The reason I ask, is back in my day the minimum stock requirement was a demand of central government, and determined by what they believed they would require in order to provide for a 28 day period on a total war footing.

I'd like to think this has been audited and revised to meet ongoing clinical needs rather than hypotheticals, because what it meant in practice is that the vast majority of donations sat in a cold store for a month, then were incinerated. I always thought the reason why this wasn't better understood was that it would lead to a dramatic fall-off in donors if they realised the majority of their donations were never used. It was compounded by the fact that after the advent of VCJD we even stopped manufacturing our own blood products, so there was even more whole blood sitting around that just ended up unused.

I already tried that, hence asking here

Your search “Rybelsus” had no matching results.

Improve your search results by:
double-checking your spelling
shortening your search
searching for something less specific
using a different way to describe your search

And I looked for ozempic, semiglutide, liraglutide

I can't give blood but I need bloods taken and same situation, all in working hours and I've used all my leave on hospital/doctors appointments
Meant to have them done every 12 weeks and the hospital wants them doing a week before my appointment. Had to tell them no as there's no blood clinics!

Also of course "clinical need" has reduced a lot because they've found out the hard way that receiving someone else's blood, especially if it's a bit old, is inherently risky, so transfusing in all the blood you've lost just in case does more harm and you're better off only giving trauma victims the absolute minimum you can get away with. And so many operations are keyhole now, which reduces blood transfusion need as well.

For all these reasons, the old days of a regular donor session in every village hall isn't needed any more. A bit more staffing to bring O Neg stocks up to a more comfortable level would be valuable, but it's never going to go back to the enormous numbers of countrywide sessions that there were in the eighties and nineties.

Maybe because the cannula needed to take a donation is wider than the needle the doctors use? Stabbing large holes in a vein is probably not a good idea.

When I started donating in the mid seventies, it was only every six months for everyone; so things have improved a bit.

I was told by a "blood gatherer" that they now only show available appointments to people whose blood they need. So if you're B+ and there is no need for B+ locally you don't see any free appointments.
The app also tells me where my blood was used, which I like.

I don't think many would.
They may let you come in half an hour late, or leave half an hour early perhaps. Or have some flexibility in changing your hours one week - leave an hour early but make it up on the next day.

But many reasonable employers couldn't necessarily do that either. Not because they're not reasonable but because of the type of work/role. School staff, medics, emergency services, etc would find that almost impossible.

Please keep trying. It might be your child
lying in hospital desperate for a transfusion. You think it won’t happen, but it could. I used to donate at work and then had kids and stopped as too busy. When youngest about to start secondary school I reregistered and made an appointment - for 6 months ahead. During that time my child was diagnosed with cancer, had chemo and received multiple transfusions. My first appointment was the day after a 4 week inpatient stay.
As well as commenting here perhaps contact the service provider to air your views. Link here to make it easy. Platelets and blood are so vital
and those that receive them are very grateful. https://secure.blood.co.uk/ContactUs/complaint