49th donation done and dusted. I had to tick a yes box which invoked the dark blue nurse who is senior on the session. She is the only one who can sign off on the yes ticks. Mine was for my change in BP medication. The previous meds were causing the swelling and pain in my foot that I had late last year. They swapped me out to different medication which only needs a lower dose. Sorted the swelling and pain issue and I had a positive confirmation blood test that the new tabs were not impacting my liver and kidneys. Blue nurse happy as it was more than 8 weeks since the change. Busy at the Life Church in Burnley but still in and out within about an hour. Searching now where I can give my 50th.
Indeed Stanley, no sessions in Barlick since before the pandemic. I have appealed to the service to re-instate after sounding out both venues in town that were previously used. Both are still available. I can't offer anyone a lift either as you have to book your own appointments now so highly unlikely that you would get two adjacent bookings at the same venue. I very rarely see any other donors that I know who are from Barlick.
The donor sessions in Barlick were passed back to the Yorkshire team about a year before the pandemic as the Manchester team said that Barlick was the furthest venue away from their base which made those sessions late night finishing. Of course when the sessions shut down they still have to pack everything up and return the donations to the processing facilities.
The crux of the matter is a shortage of staff to run the sessions. My previous session at the Life Church last year they trialled using 12 chairs instead of the normal 8 or 9. They only had 1 extra junior member of staff though for the trial. Yesterdays was back to 9 chairs, it's a big venue so they snook an extra one in over the normal 8 used in other sites. I chatted to a couple of the nurses who I was allocated and they said it was a trade off between the number of staff available for each session and the minimum required for donor safety throughout the day.
A lot of logistics involved, mornings are kit packing up, checking and travelling. They unload and deploy over lunchtime then they have a team meeting and crack on with an afternoon session. When all the afternoon appointments and walk ins have been cleared they shut down for about a half hour break then open up for the early evening session, same drill when the last one is out, pack it all up and travel back to base, they generally knock off about 9 - 10 pm. They work about a 12 hour day.
Although the sessions are a lot more efficient than when I first started. There are less fainters due to the hydration regime before you donate and the use of the reclining chairs instead of the flat beds. The statistics for donors remains the same as it was, 4% of eligible donors support the entire country. They need more staff or that will never change.
Yes, the blood supply chain runs on about a week in hand of stock at all times. This includes all the variants that can be processed from a single unit. There is a constant need for the regular donors to attend as they provide the backbone of the stock. This is interspersed with occasional appeals for specific blood groups and there is a constant appeal for more donors who have Afro Caribbean and Asian ethnicity.
My blood group is A rhesus positive and is one of the most common groups in the population so there is always a high demand for that group. Folk who are in the O group are like gold dust to the service as their blood or extracted by products can be used for other groups as well as their own.
I suppose its like the product manufacturing which operates on "just in time" parts delivery to the assembly line. A bit more important than any of that though.
My last donation was processed and passed to Tameside General Hospital.
Very important for as many people as possible to continue to donate. A very good friend of ours is undergoing treatment for cancer. She recently needed a two unit blood transfusion to bring her blood count numbers back up. She's O positive so can have red blood cells from any of the other positive groups as well as her own. She is thankful of all donors that make the effort. O negative is the rarest group.
Today's session at West Bradford Village Hall went well, some good banter with the nurses. My 50th donation "in the bag" so to say. New tuck at the recovery station also, bags of sun dried raisin's, an orange club to accompany.
It's all down to underfunding and reduced staff for the service. There are minimum staff levels set for safety, depending on the number of chairs in use at the sessions.
It was a bit like Mr Ben yesterday, "as if by magic" I got my certification, badge and gold donor card in the post.
I have spoken with both the Lancaster and Leeds teams about the Barlick venues. Both teams say the same thing, we are just a little bit too far away from their bases so the service was withdrawn at the onset of the pandemic and was not re instigated in either of the venues that have been used in the past.. Both, St Joseph's and Rolls Royce Leisure meet all the operational criteria for donor sessions, parking, temporary storage etc. We are just too far away from Manchester and Leeds. I have sounded out both venues and both are still willing to provide the accommodation if asked
The sessions don't finish when the last donation has been made at 7pm or thereabouts. They have all the kit to pack up and the donations have to be returned to their bases for signing over and processing. They say that can take their finish time to well after 9pm. Their days start at 7am with a team meeting at base, loading and deployment to the venue allocated for the day. They are normally setting up late morning ready for the first session.
I am fortunate that I am retired and have transport so I can pick and choose from the available venues. It's not ideal but it is just another result of underfunding and shortage of staff. The 4% of eligible donors contributions will remain for some time yet which just about gives coverage for the whole country with about a five day supply in hand.
There is currently an emergency appeal for blood type O donors. They are always in demand as their blood can be used for the greater number of people. My group A+ is one of the next in line as it is the commonest group within the population. That is why I continue to donate. I would like to do platelets but that is a day of a job and a trip to Leeds, Bradford or Manchester donor centres. It would also be a lot more frequently as you re manufacture platelets a lot quicker than a whole blood donation. Recovery from whole blood donation is still 12 weeks for males and 16 weeks for female donors.
Reminder email for my donation next week. Some statistics information that I have never known before. Here is an extract:
"Your arrival time is 14:40. We aim to complete your donation within one hour of this time. To guarantee blood to every patient who needs it, we rely on 6,000 donors attending one of our sessions every single day.
That's why our regular donors are so important to us, and why we're so grateful that you're coming to donate again".
It also has a graphic which says that over 25% of the population will require blood within their lifetime.
I had to tick a yes box which invoked the dark blue nurse who is senior on the session. She is the only one who can sign off on the yes ticks. Mine was for my change in BP medication. The previous meds were causing the swelling and pain in my foot that I had late last year. They swapped me out to different medication which only needs a lower dose. Sorted the swelling and pain issue and I had a positive confirmation blood test that the new tabs were not impacting my liver and kidneys. Blue nurse happy as it was more than 8 weeks since the change. Busy at the Life Church in Burnley but still in and out within about an hour. Searching now where I can give my 50th. 
