Blood donor service...... going down the pan?

[Over The Hill]

Just a thought on this subject; are we the only county who expects its citizens to give blood for free. Are people generally paid elsewhere? or is it just in the US.

Would it be better to pay people say £20 to attend. With central records there would be no worry of over-donation.

 

[IncoherentJeff]

Just to rub salt in the wound I've just spoted a text on my phone from 9am this morning. It's the blood service encouraging me to attend the session as a drop-in donor!!! You couldn't make it up, they are booked up and over subscribed but still using resources to encourage more people to make wasted visits!

Ah man that sucks, they really do need to redesign the booking system, to at least make it not prompt drop-ins when its fully booked.

 

[IncoherentJeff]

Just a thought on this subject; are we the only county who expects its citizens to give blood for free. Are people generally paid elsewhere? or is it just in the US.

Would it be better to pay people say £20 to attend. With central records there would be no worry of over-donation.

I was once told in Ireland they give you a pint of Guinness after a blood donation as its a source of iron, whether there is any shred of truth to this I've no idea.
But it'd be much better than a cup of tea/crisps.

 

[siadwell]

Useless blood donor fact for the day , gleaned from a horrible histories book I was reading with my son the other night. During the Second World War there was an oversupply of blood donations and the government seriously considered using the excess to make black pudding and feed it to the general population. Fortunately the idea was rejected.

My dad told me that once when he was in hospital for dialysis, a nurse offered the patients out-of-date blood to put on their roses!

 

[I like Skol]

I'm sorry you're so annoyed @I like Skol but I can't believe that the National Blood Service is really 'taking the p1ss' or treating donors 'like commodities'. It's part of the NHS and is struggling with cuts in funding just as much as other areas. The people who staff the donor sessions have to put up with abuse sometimes from people who can't be accommodated when they wish to be, but it isn't their fault that this happens. No one goes to their GP surgery without an appointment expecting to just be seen there and then, do they?

There's always the fact that a surprising number of people make appointments for things and then just don't turn up - maybe they forget, or maybe they can't be bothered - then perhaps a drop-in donor could be slotted in. Depending on where you live there might be other sessions where it would be possible for you to make an appointment to suit your circumstances, but it would be a great shame if you just stopped giving blood altogether because of this.

I'm not blaming the frontline staff and I didn't give them any abuse over the issue. It's the management that is the problem. You just know that somewhere near the top are people using the fact that they've introduced a super booking system, or are running a great recruitment campaign, to further their career, when in truth none of this is needed and the resources this uses would be far better spent improving the front line provision to cope with demand (but where is the glamour in that?).

I have access to a few sessions at different locations nearby so can attend when possible but it isn't a problem that is restricted to one particular session or location unfortunately.

 

[Paulus]

I was once told in Ireland they give you a pint of Guinness after a blood donation as its a source of iron, whether there is any shred of truth to this I've no idea.
But it'd be much better than a cup of tea/crisps.

I have been a doner for 35 years, and I don't know about Ireland, but you did get the choice here of tea, coffee, half of Guinness or Mackeson stout. plus bickies and a choice of sarnies. This was at the Nth. London blood donor centre in Edgware. Now the guinness and stout have long gone, still get the bickies though with tea, coffee or fruit juice.

 

[Roadrider48]

Just a thought on this subject; are we the only county who expects its citizens to give blood for free. Are people generally paid elsewhere? or is it just in the US.

Would it be better to pay people say £20 to attend. With central records there would be no worry of over-donation.

That's a very fair point, but I don't think people will ever get paid for blood in this country. Because Cameron and his jackals are more interested in what they can get rather than what they can give.
We are all a dispensable commodity!

 

[Roadrider48]

I was once told in Ireland they give you a pint of Guinness after a blood donation as its a source of iron, whether there is any shred of truth to this I've no idea.
But it'd be much better than a cup of tea/crisps.

Some doctors used to prescribe stout/Guiness for certain things....but there again, I'm a bit ancient.

 

[Mattonsea]

I gave blood for six years , but because of the cuts they closed my local venue .

 

[asterix]

I gave blood for six years , but because of the cuts they closed my local venue .

Wouldn't the cuts have made it easier?

 

[colly]

Giving blood is supposed to be an altruistic act...

It is an altruistic act and the transfusion service need to recognise that fact.

People willing give up not only their blood for the general good but their time also. Jerking people around is no way to treat someone who is acting in a charitable manner.
Of course it isn't the front line staff who are responsible it is the management who organise the way things are done. The way they are going it won't be long before there won't be any voluntary donors left and to get enough the service will have to pay people hard cash to get it.

 

[Hill Wimp]

I have had this very same issue and is why i am so reticent to go. It is very difficult for me to make an appointment and i have been giving blood for over 20 years. I only usually manage to give once a year as i one holiday to India or a similar far flung land puts you off the list for 6 months straight away but i can deal with that. A two hour 20 minute wait i cannot. I felt too guilty to walk out of that session even as i know blood is so badly needed but i haven't been since and that was last year.

They did used to come to my work place some years ago and even used to park up at the local hospital at times but now i don't think true drop in events happen anymore.

 

[Stephenite]

Anyone who has lived in the UK for a year or more between 1980 and 1996 is restricted from giving blood in the EU/EFTA.

In the US anyone who has lived for more than five years in Europe is restricted too.

 

[Chromatic]

They still do.

Not here anymore now there is only a handful of us instead of the hundreds there used to be.

 

[colly]

Ah - so the National Blood Service should have a member of staff ready to take a donation from anyone who walks through the door within a matter of minutes, eh? How do they know how many staff to have on standby?

The reality is that the appointment system helps the NBS manage their resources efficiently. And the NBS is doing a lot to make themselves available to donors - including operating out of working hours donation sessions where there is a demand, as well as encouraging employers to allow them to do groups sessions at their premises.

Oddly when I started giving blood years ago you could walk in and give blood at almost any time. Office hours and evenings. Sometimes you had to wait. That was never a problem waiting was part of the deal. It is now, I don't think anyone minds all that much.

What is a problem is the service spending money saying the are low on stocks and encouraging people to attend only for them to be told come back in 3 weeks we are fully booked up with appointments until then.
If they are fully booked and are not able to take enough blood then that isn't exactly managing their resources efficiently.