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The best place to find out more about the National Blood Service is via its website, www.blood.co.uk, or by calling the central information number on 08457 711 711 or check out Ceefax - BBC2 page 465).
This will be able to give you a lot of background information as well as tell you when and where your most convenient donation session is. Don't forget that the service also needs bone marrow donations - you can find out more from the same source. |
The NHS is in the emergency ward; it is haemorrhaging money, skills, and staff. But most importantly it is losing blood. Gary Flood explains how you can help
It's good to give
The National Health Service needs two things off you today. One is your tax money, of course, which the government says will continue to be the only way to keep health provision universal and free at point of access.
But the second, and just as important, is something you have about 10 pints of. No, not lager - blood.
And if we don't start giving more of it we could end up depriving the NHS of the fuel it needs to keep running.
THE National Blood Service needs 10,000 voluntary donations of blood every day in order to meet hospital demand. It provides hospitals up and down the country with blood and blood products that have been collected from volunteer donors.
Blood is not only used in emergency situations but can be required for heart surgery, hip replacements or treatments for various forms of cancer. Giving blood truly saves lives.
But if our free donations dry up, the service could go the way of the US, which during the 1970s and 1980s monetised donating blood - a move that led to the spread of serious blood-borne diseases.
This is a tragic and terrible story, as detailed in gay US journalist Randy Shilts' hard-hitting 1987 expose of the rise of AIDS - And The Band Played On. Commericalisation of the blood service had led both to many marginalised groups such as intravenous drug users and the homeless selling their blood, who unfortunately were among the first hit by the virus.
But the US blood industry refused to heed the warning signs, which led to the rapid spread of HIV within the national blood supply. Before screening was finally introduced in 1985, 10,000 American haemophiliacs were infected through tainted blood or blood products, and the risk of getting HIV through a transfusion peaked at one in 2,500 in the same year. (It's now down to less than one on 250,000.)
Problems from poorly screened blood have hit nearer home, with the NHS having to pay £10m compensation in 2001 to hundreds of people infected with hepatitis C through tainted blood transfusions.
Such problems have led the service to screen blood and to try and head off problems as early as possible - such as asking potential donors questions about their personal lives and sexual habits. And this may have been putting people off.
Don't worry, says the service. The information gathering is done on a strictly confidential basis and there's no need to fear the information being misused. "We do test all blood donations, as it is important to bear in mind that no test (however sensitive) can be said to be 100% safe. So we have to take the added precaution of pre screening our volunteer donors to ensure both their safety and the safety of blood recipients," a service spokesperson says.
Another reason fewer of us may be donating is the fear that it might hurt. But blood donation is a relatively quick and painless procedure.
Some people say they feel a mild scratch at first, but this is momentary; most say they feel nothing at all. Donor carers are very well trained and do all they can to ensure your comfort.
The actual process of blood donation takes no more than a few minutes. Although strenuous activity is discouraged immediately after donation, a return to regular daily activities is normal after a brief rest and some fluids to drink, say orange squash or tea.
Giving blood is quick, easy - and really important if you value the NHS.
All you need is to be aged between 17 and 60 (which goes up to 70 if you are an existing donor). You must weigh over 7 stones 12lbs and be in general good health but you cannot donate blood if you have had a piercing or tattoo in the last 12 months.
So come on and help give the NHS what it needs to work just as much as your national insurance - that all-important red stuff.
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Give us your pint!
UNISON is adding its support to us all helping the NHS out with some much-needed red-coloured 'fuel'.
UNISON member Mairead Roche is a Primary Care Trust practice manager in North London. As a registered nurse and also someone who's just completed a Master's degree part-time in health service policy and management, she says she is fully aware of the practical and logistical needs of a well-stocked national blood bank. "The Blood Transfusion Service is literally the life blood of our NHS - but unfortunately when we don't keep up with demand, planned routine ops are cancelled as all available blood is used for emergencies," she warns. "We shouldn't take blood for granted; it's a valuable resource. Shortages of blood just compound the already numerous difficulties facing the NHS, and with only a little personal sacrifice we can achieve so much good." "The national blood service in the UK is a unique service by international standards and a service that staff and donors are proud to be part of," adds Karen Jennings, National Secretary of the UNISON health group. "The way blood is offered universally and free at the point of need demonstrates the founding principles of the NHS itself." |
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