To think the NHS could do better if they are so desperate for blood?

[chickpea1982]

Apparently the NHS are desperate for blood at the moment. I have O negative blood, which is in particularly high demand. I've just tried, and failed, to find an appointment - not for the first time either. There is nothing near me for the rest of the year (I live in Surrey, not the depths of beyond). I have 3 kids and a job, so my availability is pretty limited anyway, but still - nothing?!

I'm told that they would offer priority appointments once I've had my first appointment and they have confirmed my blood type, which is just ridiculous. The NHS has records of my blood type already. And I can't get a first appointment!!

Also, you can't bring kids with you, even babies. That further restricts when I could go and how far I could go as I'd have to get someone else to look after the kids.

It's like they are making it intentionally hard! Surely they could do better if they are so desperate?

Or..the system can't store blood forever so they are spacing it out

Perhaps everyone moaning about not getting an appointment should apply for a job collecting the blood?

I donated this afternoon, at an appt made about 3 weeks ago. There were signs in the donation centre about bringing children too, if you have another adult with you.

It id a shambles but as someone who can't donate now as I lost 4 litres giving birth and nearly died I am very grateful to those that do, so thank you.

Can't seem to see where I said you did!
I said we get volunteering days. And we get paid as normal. Giving blood is included in the volunteering list. We just pop out of the office to do it. Just means no kids need watched and we can go with work colleagues and get appointments in a different area.

It is tough to find an appointment but I agree with not taking children, last time a woman was turned away as she had a small child with her, you can't watch them when you are donating and it's just not a suitable place for children

Agree trying to get appointments can be difficult and to add to that they are now being inundated with people responding to the call for blood ( which is a good thing) but the blood service doesn’t have details of your blood group, they can’t get access to your records - so an incorrect assumption I’m afraid.

and why do you think it is acceptable to take children / babies into that environment ?

There is no one who can keep an eye on them , how would you deal with them if they started to misbehave / got upset - you are lying back on a reclining chair with a cannula in your arm and can’t move ? Space is often limited so parking a pram in the unit is also impractical if you have a baby.

Eugh I agree!
Also whenever I go they are "running behind".... sometimes it's taken over 1.5 hrs to donate! With travel that's 2 hours out of my workinng day ffs

I've had a similar experience. I'm O+. I tried to register but was put in an hour-long queue. I tried again a few days later and managed to get to the registration screen but then was rejected. I eventually found out from them that I already had a registration under a different e-mail address, so that finally got sorted out, and it was entirely my fault that I'd forgotten that. But the big queue every time a request is made for donors really needs to be fixed.

Anyway, I went to book an appointment yesterday and there are just no donation centres anywhere near me. I've ended up having to book an appointment in Birmingham, which means taking a day off work and paying about £15 for a train ticket. Okay, I'll make a day of it and go and do some shopping, but it's not something I can really do regularly on weekdays and I can't go on Saturdays because I have caring responsibilities on Saturdays.

My dad used to give blood at work. There were mobile units that travelled around big workplaces. We had these when I was at university, too. A few years ago there was a church centre around to corner from me that would have blood donation sessions about 3 times a year. These no longer happen. I don't know whether that's because not enough donors were coming forward or because the transfusion service can't afford to employe people to travel around taking blood.

If the need is so urgent, which I can well believe it is, the NHS knows there are centres that can easily be adapted. They used them for doing Covid vaccinations.

I strongly suspect the transfusion service has just suffered from tightening budgets like all other parts of the NHS (or organisations under the NHS umbrella, to be more precise: there hasn't been an actual NHS since 2013). So the only way they can meet demand for blood is to get donors to travel to large donation centres, which is difficult for working people unless they work near those centres. And people over 65 can't donate, so people who have the time can't contribute anyway.

Im A neg. I had a call first week of june asking if I'd like to give blood as I have done in the past. I said yes....Next available appointment was October?! My only stipulation was an afternoon appointment. This is South too. Ridiculous.

Yes I agree. I first started giving blood about 25 years ago. The donations were always done at a community venue, maybe every 2-3 months. There would be banners up for a couple of weeks beforehand with the dates and times and you just turned up. Often they would run into the early evening so you could go after work. I donated regularly for about 10 years then stopped when I got pregnant. Decided to start again about 3 years ago and there no longer seem to be community sessions. I can travel either to a shopping centre in one direction or a medical centre in the other, both 45 minutes away. It's just not feasible around full time work and children.

I can't imagine it's necessarily cost effective either. Probably half the permanent donation centres sit empty most of the time because there's a limited number of people who can reach them.

I'm having trouble getting on the website to book my next appt though!

You said you get a "volunteer day"

I donated blood for many years at a walk-in facility at the community centre in my town. The sessions were always very busy with sometimes significant waits, but nobody minded. Then it changed to having to make an appointment - fair enough.
Then I had a cancerous cyst in one kidney, (not related to donating), and had that part of the kidney where the cyst was, removed, (sliced off basically!).
I was followed up yearly for 5 years with scans, blood tests, etc, and was given the all-clear.
But I was told I would never be able to give blood again.
Had I been in the USA, I would have been eligible, (providing certain basic conditions were met), to donate again after 1 year of being clear of cancer.
And since the pandemic, I've never seen the peripatetic "blood wagon" at our community centre or anywhere else local, so I don't know if it has all become centralised?

A- here. Was a donor for years until to.d I could no longer donate because of certain ovulation stimulation drugs I took during IVF 30 years ago. Mad cow risk apparently.

Agree that it used to be much easier to donate.

If you've donated before and they therefore know your blood type the availability of appointments is impacted by that. I'm AB+ and was sitting next to a colleague trying to book a same day appointment as she'd just told me they had lots available that day.

Colleague was able to book one of many many slots but when I searched it showed no availability for the next 6m. The next time I donated they confirmed that if they don't need my blood type at that point I'll get a message of no availability when I search.

So they are slightly more sophisticated that they may seem. That said, I've given up searching as they never ever seem to need my blood!

Blood donors kept my mother alive for precious months. She had aggressive leukaemia and died a few weeks ago, but was able to spend time with friends and family as the blood, and platelets, etc. perked her up between emergency admissions. Some of the things she did in that time included having my brother to stay from the other side of the world, going round a spring garden, attending a much loved sewing club, playing bridge, having friends around, and spending Easter with us.

I give when I can, too, but my haemoglobin is too low at the moment.

Thank you all. Please keep trying, even if it's difficult. You are wonderful.

My Dh is -O. We used to give blood regularly until you HAD to have an appointment. His work makes that virtually impossible. He doesn't know week to week if he will be available never mind weeks in advance.
If they kept some drop in sessions he would have kept going. He was more than happy to wait when it was busy etc.

I think sometimes it can be difficult getting an appointment because - as far as I’m concerned - as soon as I’ve donated, I book the next one. I donated first week July, came home and booked next one (Nov) straight away. So I guess current donors book quickly… the Blood Donor staff used to do it for you whilst you were having your tea and biscuits.

I’m O+, apparently have great veins, and am a gusher. I’m so proud 😁

I stopped donating a few years ago as I could get a convenient appointment and they stopped doing weekends within a 20 mile radius

This isn't my experience. I donate every 4 months and can always choose from quite a few venues.
If the system is low on available appointments now I imagine that's because demand for appointments has gone up due to the appeal for blood. No bad thing.

Also, I have really shit veins and drinking loads of water beforehand makes all the difference.

I no longer give blood after my last two appointments were cancelled after i had been sat in the donation centre for over an hour past my actual appointment time. I live a half hour drive from the centre. I can't give up two hours of my time every time on the off chance they decide to take my blood.

There's nowhere remotely near me to give blood, not even random clinics every so often.

The blood shortage is predominantly a shortage of staff to take the blood rather than a shortage of donors. I've phoned repeatedly to volunteer to take blood but they never call back. I can't find a slot till Nov. Don't see why they don't just set up bases in hospitals as 50% of donors are nhs staff anyway. My trust keeps talking of it but not yet materialised