Slashing 700 jobs from the NHS Blood and Transplant Service (NHSBT) is a reckless gamble that could cost lives, warned unions representing staff at the service today (29 October). The Unions are calling on management at NHSBT to reconsider these drastic proposals or risk possible strike action.
The jobs are due to go over the next four years and processing blood will be stopped at seven of the 10 sites serving England and north Wales, leaving just Bristol, Manchester and London to cope. As a result, the service will lose the flexibility and responsiveness to short-term fluctuations in demand that local processing centres provide. In addition the closures will mean blood products with a very short shelf life will have to be moved long distances from collection sites to processing centres and back again to issuing centres, leaving supply dependent on a highly congested and unreliable road network.
Joint Union Staff Side Secretary, Bill Campbell warned: