Shropshire Star comment: Who said our blood isn’t vital?

It is a noble thing to do. It is something that people are encouraged to do.

It could save a life. Conceivably, if you are from a rare blood group, it might even save your own life.

Those Shropshire volunteers who have done their bit are going to find it very difficult to do so in future, because 23 blood donation sessions across Shropshire and Staffordshire are being axed, with up to 17 staff redundancies.

In future those who give blood in Shropshire will have to be determined and highly motivated to do so, because depending on where they live they will have to seek out the donation sessions which in some cases may mean having to cross the border into Wales.

Not all Shropshire sessions are being lost, but at those that remain open the waiting times for appointments are expected to be lengthy.

Decline

We are assured that this is nothing to do with cost cutting, but because the whole landscape is changing. Advances in medical procedures means that less blood is being used in hospitals for operations, and demand for specific conditions which require transfusions is highest in urban areas, so it is logical to concentrate the blood there.

Overall, it is said hospital blood use is declining by three to four per cent per year.

Put like that, it all makes sense. However, the way it comes across is that the blood service doesn't want Shropshire's blood any more, at least in the amounts of the past.

Volunteers who feel the service is turning its back on them surely deserve an expression of thanks and gratitude for their efforts.

The service is obviously confident that it can be slimmed down and yet still meet demand, and it is understandable that the service does not want to waste time, effort, and blood, by collecting blood it is sure it will not need.

But goodwill is also a resource which should not be wasted.

This is a downgrade in which the effects will need to be carefully monitored. It is not as if the blood is not needed at all. It is.

Across a large part of Shropshire the traditional "give blood" message is in effect being superseded by one of "don't give blood."

And with that comes the risk of an unintended consequence, with the "don't give blood" message catching on more widely, with a matching decline in donors.

If that happened, then the loss of the footprint in Shropshire would be sorely felt.