rant about the blood transfusion service

[strapping young lad]

never given blood before, but caroline has so i went all brave to the local centre to give blood only for us to be turned away saying they are too busy! :shock:

it was 6.10pm and they finished at 6.30pm

i can understand if we turned up with 5 mins to go but we had plenty of time.

wife kicked off at the helpline saying that the BTS is crying out for donors then TWO get turned away.. i mean [Edited]!

they said cos ive not been before that i should turn up at 5.45pm cos a first timer takes longer but sorry ive a job and i cant get back until at least 6pm (like most people who dont get home round this time anyway so if they want people to give blood i believe they should extend the hours later (4.30pm till 6.30pm doesnt tie in with the normal office hours in anyones book!

i know they do a splendid job and its more or less thankless but the people upstairs should rethink their times and think about how to get a greater audience, i would bet people dont bother cos the closing time is too early

worst bit is that there wasnt anyone in the waiting room.


grrr!

[sleeplessparadise]

I am sorry but as a blood donor I can see exactly why they turned you away. I have very troublesome veins, sometimes it takes them 20 minutes just to find one but other times they just slip the needle straight in. I guess I am lucky that I work for myself and can go when I want. My daughter's first donation took nearly an hour with the messing about trying to find veins etc. It isn't just a case of going and giving blood either........ there are forms to fill in and then a booklet to be read...... if your other half gives blood regularly she should know this herself. Yes they are crying out for blood but you cannot expect them to work late constantly to allow for people to donate. They have a lot of tidying etc. to do once they have finished with the donations too so they probably don't actually finish till gone 8 once that is done. It is very worth while and as it is only for the first donation that it usually takes longer it might be worth while taking an hour of work for the first time, or trying to get to a session in your next holiday from work   If you look on their website it tells you all about the times etc. for centres near you  :)

[strapping young lad]

thing is my wife runs a business and it closes 6pm and we cant shut that early..

last time we went we could have been seen but they didnt know if a place i'd been to on holiday had some disease on it or not so they wouldnt let me donate (fair enough i suppose but it wasnt the deepest jungle it was the eastern caribbean)

but even so regarding taking a while for each patient to donate, you dont just say sorry we are closing to a new donor, what kind of impression does that leave (it left a bad one on me)

[muddyman]

SYL,


          All I can add to this is, I need blood to do with my own ill heath, so please dont let this put you off, as I for one need guys and gals like you and your good lady.

[strapping young lad]

its not putting me off cos we've been in touch with the nhs for advice, im just whinging bout the centre we went to turning new donors away, bit stupid that cos i might have a rare blood type! :)

[DaveS]

They open till 7.15 at our centre, you can make appointments once you have been for the first time.

They are trying to speed up the process, I made an appointment for my next vistit as part of the check in process.
First time takes longer because of the documentation etc.

I think they do a great job, they kept my father alive for  quite some time as he needed regular transfusions. A big thankyou to all donors!

I can understand your annoyance though and sympathise.

[pilgrim]

of course they're busy - the tour de france is on!

 :lol:

[screwy]

I must say I symapthise with the OP. I too registered last year with them and received the usual welcome pack, etc. They do just one session a month near me and everytime it was on, I was working late. I am self-employed and never know what jobs I will be on usually until a day or to before, so appointment booking for me is useless.

Anyway, after a couple of months of not getting there, I got a quite badly worded letter from them essentially asking am I going to donate or not. I wrote back explaining my circumstances, etc and said that as soon as a donation day coincided with me not working, I would be along.

Then I managed to get back early the next month, rushed straight to the centre and had exactly the same experience as the OP, as in turned away through lack of time. :(

Another couple of months went by and work stopped me getting to sessions. Then my wife took a call from a quite rude woman from the BTS saying that I was 'wasting their time' and have now been removed from the list. I could re-apply if I wanted to.

Well sod that if that's their attitude. I am happy to help and overcome my dislike of all things medical, as I have been a recipient of blood in my life and its fair to give it back. But if you only hold one session a month, what do you expect working people to do?

The whole NHS seems to have this attitude regarding appointments - its as if it is only geared to those who work locally in 9-5 jobs or dont work at all. There seems no leeway nor accomodation for people who work shifts and anti-social hours, often miles away from their homes.

In my experience they have a poor attitude to helping people help them and I wont be in any hurry to re-register in the near future after this experience.

[sleeplessparadise]

I have just checked the NBS web site and there are 77 sessions I could attend in the next 2 months if I wanted to give blood (having just given last week I won't be going to any of them) but they range from the centre in Bradford which is open mopnday to friday 9.30 a.m till 6.30pm to 9 other towns that are easily accessible with sessions running from 2p.m to 7.30p.m  As mentioned earlier I too work for myself and I make time to go and give blood because it is that important to me to do so and if I cannot make time once every 16 weeks or so to get to any one fo 77 sessions then it really cannot be that important for me to do so. Just my opinion  :)

[screwy]

open mopnday to friday 9.30 a.m till 6.30pm to 9 other towns that are easily accessible with sessions running from 2p.m to 7.30p.m  

So that's weekdays only and the latest session is 7pm. And that's local to you. So when I work in london and finish at 4, I wont get back till 8. I cannot go during working hours, as unbelievably I am working. This is what I mean. Why don't they do a weekend session? Why no late night ones say from 6-10pm? All those times you quoted are geared to 9-5rs and those who dont work..... :?

[beast5680]

my wife registered as she wanted to do her bit by giving blood and off she went one day to donate, unfortunatly she,s not good with needles but they were very good and said its ok we have people like you all the time,
after they took nearly 4 hours to bring her back to conciousness they politely said maybe you need your blood more than we do :lol:  its ok if you dont come back

[sleeplessparadise]

So that's weekdays only and the latest session is 7pm. And that's local to you. So when I work in london and finish at 4, I wont get back till 8. I cannot go during working hours, as unbelievably I am working. This is what I mean. Why don't they do a weekend session? Why no late night ones say from 6-10pm? All those times you quoted are geared to 9-5rs and those who dont work..... :?

You can donate anywhere, you can just go in and donate at any session so as long as you haven't donated in the last 16 weeks :?  As I said, I make time to go give blood, I made time when I was employed by a company too........ because it is important to me. And no before anyone says it, I am not so well off that I can afford to do it but still I make time.

[strapping young lad]

i think employers should encourage this and if there is one nearby allot time so that you can go and donate. (imagine the brownie points the md gets for doing "his or her bit"

i remember the days when you would turn up in school and the dreaded dentist truck was parked in the playground


uurgh ive got shivers just thinking about it!

[screwy]

You can donate anywhere, you can just go in and donate at any session so as long as you haven't donated in the last 16 weeks

Okay, I know you can, but I think you are missing my point. It seems daft to me that on the one hand the NHS and BTS are crying out for donors and on the other the entire 'system' seems geared towards those that work 'normal hours' in nice clean jobs or dont work at all, that's all I am saying.

I work in the heavy lifting industry. Say I am on a job in London, sure I could 'pop' along to a local session. But in reality that would mean abondoning my job and colleagues which means I dont get paid for the day so might as well stay at home. Or I could ask a van full of people to wait an hour for me if I go after the job is done - its not going to happen. And besides, I really dont want to go in to give blood plastered in blood, sweat and tears from grafting in some stinking boilerhouse - its not nice for me or the nurses!

So that means waiting till I get home and showered and back out locally and that means not at all as they close before I can do this.

Besides which, none of this excuses the frankly poor attitude of 'your messing us about' simply because I haven't been able to donate yet, followed by a subsequent removal from the register - who on earth is that encouraging people?? And what is so difficult or unreasonable about doing late night sessions or at a weekend??

[BrumLee]

i might have a rare blood type! :)

Is there much call for dragon blood as you once told me you had Welsh blood running through your viens  :lol:   :lol:

[sleeplessparadise]

Besides which, none of this excuses the frankly poor attitude of 'your messing us about' simply because I haven't been able to donate yet, followed by a subsequent removal from the register - who on earth is that encouraging people?? And what is so difficult or unreasonable about doing late night sessions or at a weekend??

I agree it doesnt excuse their poor attitude although I have never heard of anyone being taken off the register before. But as to why not have late night sessions or weekend sessions........ well I may be wrong but I think a lot of the people who do this are volunteers.......... so maybe they just cannot get volunteers to work nights or weekends? As I said I could be wrong and maybe these people do get paid to collect blood  :?

[screwy]

Really they should get the Tax Man to run it, hes good at getting the last drop out of us.... :twisted:  :twisted:

[strapping young lad]

the BTS should just park up outside a pub on a saturday night and just wait ;)

the people i donated to worked for the NHS as they had NHS name badges on im sure of it

if you were a volunteer i think it would be stated wouldnt it (i think though the tea and buscuit part may be voluntary though)

[The Ant Hill Mob]

This will stir up this can of worms even more.....one of my friends actually works as a haemotologist for the Blood service.  He's always going on about how much blood actually gets thrown away.  During the floods a lot of the blood was chucked, as they couldn't get it to the hospital before it's expiry date.  Some blood products can be frozen, but not all of it, it needs to be fresh.  So no matter how many people donate, there's always going to be a limited supply.  So if everyone went and donated on the same day (assuming they could fit everyone in!), we'd be out of blood in a week.
I work in an office, and every 3 or 4 months the blood bus comes to our office to collect anyone that wants to donate, but we still have to take the hour off.
Once I've got rid of my pesky ME, I will be back to donating regularly, as donated blood kept RRB's dad going for a few weeks longer, so a huge thanks to those that donated in the past.

[sleeplessparadise]

Once I've got rid of my pesky ME, I will be back to donating regularly, as donated blood kept RRB's dad going for a few weeks longer, so a huge thanks to those that donated in the past.

And that's why it's important to me, my mum six years ago and my uncle last year died of cancer but needed blood which gave me a few weeks extra with them........ thanks to all of you that do donate I will keep donating till they stop me now :D

[Dirty Gertie]

I too used to be a regular donor, taking the prerequisite year off after tattoos, piercings and childbirth. I have easily found veins and always gave my pint in about 5 minutes flat and suffered no ill effects at all, ever. Then they brought in that stupid rule which dictates that anyone under 8 stone cannot donate; fine, I used to lie about my weight (I had been 7.5 stone, since the age of 15, pregnancies notwithstanding). Then, one day a few years ago, I went to donate a pint and was met at the door by a nurse who was having a fag; she looked at me as if I had crawled out of a drain and remarked that I "Look too skinny to give blood" - I found her attitude very insulting, as I did with anyone using the term "skinny" - I have always been a slim build, and at 5'1" it's a good thing too; I wouldn't want to be fat!! I have now gained a little weight and am over that 'magic' 8 stone mark, however, I'm afraid that her snotty attitude was enough to put me off, as far as I'm concerned, if they think I need my blood more than others do, since I'm obviously undernourished, anorexic, or whatever, I'll damnwell keep it!
Incidentally, the staff are all NHS employees, only the 'tea ladies' are volunteers from the WRVS.