Banbury blood donor 'frustrated' by lack of available appointments - but NHS insist donations are needed

Adderbury man Andy Howard has donated blood to the NHS for the past 30 years but has recently come up against a wall when trying to give blood.

After seeing advertisements detailing a national blood shortage due to a cyber attack on hospitals in London this month, he rang up to arrange a donation appointment.

However, upon speaking to staff at NHS Blood and Transplant, Andy was told that he would have to wait over a month for a local appointment or travel around 45 minutes to another centre.

Andy said: “They are saying there is an urgent need for blood, but it's impossible to book an appointment. I was willing to give my blood, but I wasn't willing to drive miles to do it.”

Andy believes the lack of available appointments is directly related to staff cuts and the retirement of the old community blood donation vans, which have not been replaced.

Instead of visiting the community vans that would travel to some of the villages around Banbury, local blood donors now all have to use the centre at The Peoples Church in Banbury.

Andy added: “I got frustrated by it all. I was a blood donor for 30 years, but when they stopped using local centres like Kings Sutton, the process seemed to have got a lot harder.

"I think government cuts and the retirement of the mobile units have resulted in there being no appointments in Banbury.

"They talk about there being a shortage of blood, but surely one of the reasons there is a shortage is because no one can book an appointment to donate blood.”

Earlier this month, NHS Blood and Transplant issued an appeal for O-positive and O-negative blood donors to book appointments at its centres across the country.

This was because a cyber attack meant that hospitals were unable to match patients with their correct blood types, resulting in some London hospitals declaring a critical incident.

In response, a spokesperson for NHS Blood and Transplant said that the appeal was specifically directed at people living close to the 25 permanent blood donation centres.

However, they also encourage donors to book appointments for a month's time, as they constantly need blood and say the ideal situation for the NHS Blood and Transplant team is to see appointments consistently filled over the weeks and months ahead.

They said: “We would like to thank local donors for their ongoing support and encourage people to keep booking appointments and donating over coming weeks and months.

"If you can't get an appointment straightaway, please keep checking back for cancellations or extra appointments becoming available. Each donation can save up to three lives. Currently, there is a particular need for O negative, O positive and B negative blood."

For more informaton about donating blood, visit https://www.blood.co.uk/