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Donating blood

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Donating blood

Reviewed by Dr Dan Rutherford, GP

Why become a blood donor?

The availability of blood and the products that can be produced from blood is an essential part of our health care system.

A rewarding task Being a blood donor is easy and rewarding, too.

It's not often you can spend 10 minutes and know you've made an invaluable contribution to someone's medical care.

Quite possibly, you may have helped save a life.

Current stocks

Only 5 per cent of the population donates blood, and the need for blood is ever increasing as modern medicine and surgery advances.

So far we are lucky in the UK that sufficient numbers of people donate blood, but we cannot afford to be complacent. Occasions do arise when blood stocks fall below the optimum level.

Nearly three million donations are required in the UK annually to keep pace with demand.

Who can give blood?

You should be able to donate blood every four months without any adverse effects if you are:

healthy

weigh over 50kg

between 17 and 65 years old (or 60 for first-time donors).

Why the restrictions? Your assessment and the further screening of donated blood ensures:

you won't be harmed by giving blood

another person won't be harmed by receiving your blood.

What happens when you give blood?

How much is a unit? One unit of blood equals is 450ml (just under a pint).

An adult's body contains around 8-10 pints of blood.

How often can a person give blood?

Normally not more than once every 16 weeks. This gives your blood time to build up its stores of iron before your next donation.

How can I become a blood donor?

Permanent blood donation centres are in most main cities in the UK and there is also an active mobile blood transfusion service that takes in smaller towns.

If you would like to be a blood donor you can telephone the UK National Blood Service (formerly The National Blood Transfusion Service) on 0345 711711. They will be able to tell you where and when your nearest blood donor session will be held.

You can also find more information on your country-specific website:

Scotland: www.show.scot.nhs.uk/scotblood/info.html

England: www.blood.co.uk.

Wales: www.welsh-blood.org.uk

Ireland: www.giveblood.net.

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