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After the NHS said that the supplier which processes blood tests suffered a cyber attack meaning it was unable to match patients’ blood as quickly as before, it launched an appeal for more donors to come forward. It takes just one hour to donate blood.
On 3 June, Synnovis, a pathology laboratory which processes blood tests on behalf of a number of NHS organisations, primarily in South East London, was the victim of a ransomware attack. This led to a large number of procedures being cancelled or changed with blood transfusions particularly affected.
I was one of the people who responded to the appeal by the NHS Blood and Transplant Service for O blood type donors. They want people with O negative blood because they can donate to anybody.
Having never donated before, I hope that my blood is O negative and that it is immediately useful. I had a great experience giving blood that I want to share to encourage others to do the same.
Everything is booked online. You need to visit www.blood.co.uk to find your local blood donor centre. There is a lot of guidance on who can and cannot donate; of course it’s a very personal thing and not for everyone. It is possible to donate every 16 weeks and the NHS app makes it easy to make appointments and set reminders.
I turned up bang on time at a central London blood donor centre. You are advised to eat well beforehand and hydrate. I was asked over and over if I had eaten and to keep drinking water to ensure I had the best recovery. After filling in more forms about my life and suitability to donate, I was in.
I realise that for many people donating blood isn’t a new experience but for me, I was blown away by the kindness and care of the NHS staff and the continual gratitude for my donation. I asked whether they had an uptick in donors because of the cyber attack and I was told yes but it still wasn’t enough. Normally there is enough supply for seven days and currently it is three days.
Lying prone on the ‘bed’ the nurse checked my veins, located a nice fat one on my right arm and while I looked away, pumping my hand with a plastic tube in it, she expertly inserted the needle. Connecting it to some tubes into a deflated plastic bag, my blood started to flow. I won’t pretend to understand how it works, it just does and within six minutes, I’d donated 250ml of blood. The nurse said it can take up to 15 minutes, so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. The bag is warm and weirdly soft to touch.
The nurses use a hand held device, a bit like a phone with a barcode scanner, to scan forms and all the equipment used to ensure the process is connected to me and my donation. It means that my donation is tracked, like an Amazon parcel, from the moment it leaves me to the moment it is used by someone else. In a week or so I will find out what my blood type is and what it will be used for.
It turns out that when you donate blood it doesn’t get used in full, rather it’s broken down into its constituent parts and used for different purposes. I’m told by one nurse that a lot of the demand for blood comes from cancer patients.
Expecting a nice cup of tea in a ‘village hall from the 1970s’ style mug, I was disappointed to learn that I must wash my biscuit down yet more water as tea is too dehydrating. And after a 15 minute read of the paper and half a litre of water later, I was off out to enjoy the rest of a sunny Sunday afternoon.
It takes just one hour. Please consider donating blood, it really could save a life.
