Shropshire blood donor sees red over lack of sessions
A Shropshire blood donor who has given more than 900 donations in his lifetime may have to quit due to a lack of available sessions in the county.
Andrew Rodgers, from Oswestry, has been donating blood regularly since the 1980s, but in recent years he has found it more difficult to obtain a slot in a session to increase his donations.
So far the 55-year-old has donated 916 times, but he believes he will struggle to continue donating that because he is having to pay to travel out of the county.
In recent months he has had to go to Chester, and recently paid £40 to go via train to Birmingham to donate.
Mr Rodgers has always loved doing it and giving to others, but now the he fears he may have to stop.
He said: "I have given 916 donations to date and it is something I've always enjoyed doing and giving to others.
"To begin with I gave blood plasma because I didn't have enough iron on my blood, but then I gave proper blood.
"Recently it has been too hard to get an appointment, and there is nowhere you can go and walk in and give blood.
"I am unemployed and can't afford to keep going and paying £40 to get to Birmingham to give blood.
"It doesn't seem right that there isn't enough sessions in Shropshire to give blood, it seems crazy really.
"I am doing this for the greater good but is becoming harder and harder to actually give blood."
In February, it was announced that sessions in Oswestry, Telford, Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury were being cut due to a fall in demand in the amount of blood needed, leaving donors struggling to find venues.
Reducing
Pam Pye of NHS Blood and Transplant said blood use is declining by three to four per cent each year, and the decline in blood use is a global trend due to changes in procedures.
She said: "We have made changes to our blood donation programme across the whole country, not just Shropshire, as the demand for overall blood is reducing. Any closure of sessions in your area is because of this reduction in demand for blood and blood products.
"While we still need to collect around 6,000 donations a day to meet the needs of hospital patients, and we still need nearly 200,000 new donors a year, we don’t want to waste precious donations by collecting more blood than patients need.
"We need to make sure we have not only the right amount of blood, but it needs to be the right blood mix to help meet the needs of all patients who need life-saving treatment, especially those with conditions like sickle cell disease who require blood which is more closely matched than by group alone.
"Despite making changes, we have retained many sessions in Shropshire and we need to continue to run our awareness campaigns because we must attract new donors to secure the donor base of the future and to ensure we have the right mix of blood groups.
"When people have difficulty booking an appointment they often worry that there will be a shortage; when in reality, the fact that our sessions are fully booked is a good thing because it means we are collecting the blood we need and not wasting precious donations of blood that is not needed.
"We appreciate that any changes made to sessions may make it difficult for many people in rural areas to travel to an alternative session and we thank them for the lives they have already saved."
