Had an email and three texts this week asking me to give urgently due to low stocks but I’m not due for another month.

Anyone in the know know if it’s really low? Not had a text/email like this before. A&E pressures??

Lot’s of colds and bug’s doing the rounds atm,folks not able to donate because of this, stands a good chance IMHO.

There’s a statistic along the lines of the NHS only carries/has enough stock for 3 days (if everyone stopped donating).

DrP

Got the same emails and texts. When I phoned for an appointment, they’d all gone! Can’t be that bad….

Here’s Englands

http://www.blood.co.uk/about-blood/stock-levels-statistics/

The stocks are always low

Jerseychaz – stupid comment. If you were committed you’d go to a different local donation site or a walk-in regional centre. Also don’t forget that people make appointments then don’t turn up.

Your comments sound crass even if you didn’t mean it. Giving blood to help others is something worthwhile

Tbh…. Unless you book whilst giving blood for 3mnths I find the same. I have to be flexible on centres. Unless you don’t work it can be inflexible. A senior nurse told me years ago they used to lay on a taxi both ways FOC for people with my yype/cmv-

BTW when you session search and wait for confirmation then receive back ‘sorry its full’ it records that it was biiked/you didn’t show their end. I know this as I saw their screen and my ‘no shows’ once when they were booking me in for a new apt at the clinic/whilst giving blood.

Jerseychaz – stupid comment. If you were committed you’d go to a different local donation site or a walk-in regional centre. Also don’t forget that people make appointments then don’t turn up.

Yes, Jerseychaz – get on that ferry, you slacker! I love this place sometimes. 😀

Maybe not getting the appointments is an area thing, maybe just lucky/unlucky ?

I got a letter last week asking me to donate again (not been due to being on tablets) and got an appointment for 25th Jan @ 10:35 which suited me perfectly and at my chosen donation site. I will be booking the next one whilst there though

If you were committed you’d go to a different local donation site or a walk-in regional centre.

You must be the person who runs the booking system; I stoppped donating because they also seemed to think they were doing me a favour by letting me give blood rather than the other way round and that I should fit in with them even if it meant taking time off work and going to some obscure YMCA miles away.

The staff at the donation sessions on the other hand were always lovely and grateful to have a pint of my O Rh-.

Inspired by this thread I’ll have another go, but from my struggles so far with their web site it’s not looking promising, it seems to think an appointment at a session in March will help the “urgent need”.

The staff are lovely, the admin less so
Moaning on here won’t fix that but saying I’d like to donate but they just won’t change the system to accommodate me is daft. Work within the current system and donate as often as you can.
If you feel really strongly about it badger them for more local sessions.

Jerseychaz – stupid comment. If you were committed you’d go to a different local donation site or a walk-in regional centre. Also don’t forget that people make appointments then don’t turn up.

Your comments sound crass even if you didn’t mean it. Giving blood to help others is something worthwhile

Unfortunately, on the Isle of Wight, there’s one session every so often in a changing location. Popping in on the off chance isn’t an option given the length of time you have to wait, otherwise I’d do it!

Every time I’ve tried to attend a session in Durham for the past 2 years, I’ve been unable to get a slot booked for a time I can actually make. If they need the blood so badly, then surely it’s not asking too much for them to make sure they have the capacity to deal with donors at times when they’ll actually be available.

Agree.

I’ve never given blood, they’ve always turned mine down. (Because of my risky lifestyle, apparantly.) Just had another look at the website and it looks like I might qualify at last. Might give it a go. How long does a first visit take?

Allow yourself a good hour for a first session – you’ll get a separate interview to go through stuff.

Good on you for going back

I’ve never given blood, they’ve always turned mine down. (Because of my risky lifestyle, apparantly.)

Have they relaxed the rules in recent years? I’ve a vague memory of them being more fussy about degrees of separation (ie, not just concerned about sexual partners but your partners’ partners)? Or am I just misremembering?

A quick google suggests there was some sort of a rewrite around 2011, and the yes/no screening questions have gone from the website now. There’s a session down the road in a couple of weeks, I’ll pop in and see what the score is then.

I have not given blood since an operation on my knee about 5 yrs a go.
Last few times I gave it was becoming more of a nuisance with 1001 questions to answer yes/no to.

My blood is apparently too high risk because I had a transfusion in about 2005, in the UK. Which seems weird, because if the highest risk thing I’ve ever done is receive a UK blood transfusion, how can I be any riskier than the average UK blood stock?

Anyway, can’t help but agree with the comments above, they come to the uni from time to time and it’s set up to be as awkward and timeconsuming as possible to donate, you’d think they were giving away £100 notes from the queues. Which does donors great credit but is frankly taking the piss. So it’s hard not to think that if stocks were really low and more donations were desperately needed, they would put a bit of effort into sucking less.

Having struggled to register with the blood.co.uk web site (it seems my donor number was invalid so I’ve got a new one, records of previous donations lost) it’s now suggesting an appointment in April, so I’m guessing the urgency isn’t that great.

This was so much easier back in the days when I used to work near Edgware and could pop into the donor centre on the way home from work without an appointment, and get a free Guinness afterwards.

I am pretty sure the blood donation is barred for previous recipients because of mad cow disease.

I tend to book in for a Friday afternoon in my local village hall, which is always a sell out & knock it out quickly and get on with the day

Its a bit more than an hour. Last time a nurse ran out and stood by my car as my parking had run out incase a traffic warden came! That was nice of him (I didn’t ask)

Abit unusual? Had a text and a call this morning saying they need blood and have an appointment for me at lunchtime. Checked online and the stocks look like 5days+. Maybe they read this topic and thought ‘hey lets make it easier to get an appointment’ 😀

They have just closed loads of donor drop ins in Staffs/Cheshire and laid a load of staff off, basically down to less demand these days as ops have changed.

That and blood lasts 6 weeks or which i didnt realise

They made the team on the IoW redundant and now ship everything in from the Mainland. Result is that sessions finish early as everyone has to get back on the ferry and there’s no overtime if they are late! All the staff who were laid off now work as agency staff in the Phlebotomy Dept at the hospital!!

I’ve been giving blood for 30+ years and their appointment systems have been getting worse

At one time you just walked in and waited for maybe 15 mins and then donated. These days I book weeks in advance, and then wait after my appointment time has passed. I’ve considered not bothering on the basis that I’ve done my bit, but it’s just too valuable a service

Their processes now take longer to ensure safer donations and safer blood stocks and everything is timed, e.g. cleaning your arm, which it never used to be

If you happen to be near a Blood Donation Centre you can consider platelet donation which you can do up to 24 times a year. IME the appointment times are adhered to, but that doesn’t help folk in remote communities

I tested for that- not low but not high enough. Although I usually have a big ride before donation (I have to take time of work so I make the most of the holiday used). Could a big ride affect platelet levels?

I feel a bit bad as I missed the last session, which was just before I left for work… And I’m O-ve, so always in demand.

The appointments system must put people off. Why isn’t there a donation centre at the bigger hospital where you could drop in and donate? We seem to get a session in our town every few months, and other ‘local’ ones 15+ miles away every few weeks.

When I lived in Oman I could just pop in at the Hospital, drop off an arm full and be on my way.

I’ve missed the last two sessions because they only ever run on a Friday afternoon / evening, which for some obscure reason means I tend to either be at work, or excluded because I’m working the next day.

The appointments system must put people off. Why isn’t there a donation centre at the bigger hospital where you could drop in and donate? We seem to get a session in our town every few months, and other ‘local’ ones 15+ miles away every few weeks.

There is at the John Radcliffe IIRC. Otherwise the bigger centres tend to take drop in donors but they’re run on a shoestring budget so have to use an appointments system.

knock it out quickly and get on with the day

You do know it’s blood their after?

Registered for the first time, hope they don’t ask me about time as a male stripper in a go-go bar.

Sadly as someone who had hepatitis as a child, they don’t want my blood.
Mrs_oab has no immune system, and is reliant on new blood products each week, cannot give blood either.

Yah boo sucks.

I’ve managed to get a session to donate next week – yay! But the process wasn’t easy. I struggled with their web site which wouldn’t accept my details, had to phone them and finally managed to register accepting that my previous donation records going back to the 1970s have got lost in the process. They then phoned me on a Saturday morning when I was out; Mrs R took a message that they were going to send me a pack in the post with my first appointment in. A week and a half later that finally arrived and turned out not to have an appointment, just a session I could go to and pointed me to the web site again. Went to the web site and by then there was only one slot left so I’ve juggled things so that I can attend that.

I imagine many new donors would just say cba.

When I gave blood yesterday – I left work at 12.40 for my 1.15 appointment. Arrived at 1.05 and gave blood at 2pm. Left at 2.30 as I needed to get back. So not too bad this time however near on 2hours even if only every 3months is still a chunk that you need to find in your day. Although tbh if your blood is used then all the trying to get an appointment, the parking/travel/waiting and those bloody needles is more than worth it 🙂

They want blood and platelets, so steer clear of ‘brufen before you donate. I felt guilty the last time I went because I had taken some that morning for some gym-induced aches.

By the way, 4:07 is the time to beat.

Yep Platelets are always in big need.

This has prompted me to give blood and looks like there is a donation place v near my office. Never done it before but it seems I have a fairly rare blood group so think I should (although by definition the need for rare blood groups must be lower).

Novice question – if I give blood this afternoon will I have any issues in riding a fairly vigorous 42 miles tomorrow?

After donating regularly for 15+ years I’m at the point of giving up. Their system doesn’t seem to be able to deal with living and working in two different locations. Considering I work 50 yards from a general hospital there isn’t anywhere in the town where I can donate during the week after a re-organisation in the timetables and venues. Tried donating at home at the weekend but with a couple of young kids in tow it doesn’t work.

The staff at the donor sessions have always been brilliant. Why the regular sessions were re-arranged I can’t guess because they were always over subscribed (Judging from the queues).

Gave blood yesterday afternoon. I don’t know if anyone else experiences this but the day after giving blood I feel physically “better”.