News • 22 December 2002

Blood donations at Christmas

Pieta - Donating blood for Christmas may not spring to mind as a possible activity to be included over the vacation period, but is surely one to be lauded. With the onset of the hectic days of Christmas, the Blood Bank once again finds itself facing a possible increase in demand but not only due to the rise in complicated operative procedures, as some of us may be inclined to imagine. Transfusions do happen regularly and these take up the bulk of the bank’s reserves.

Unfortunately there are always traffic accidents which account for massive volumes of blood consumed in hours. In the past individual victims involved in some bad accidents actually required up to a 100 bags of blood in just a few hours.

Considering that one person can donate one bag of blood containing 450cc of whole blood, this makes for a lot of donors. Whilst the average consumption of a routine day is roughly that of 50 units or bags, a grand 50 donors are required per day.

The Blood Bank does get shortages. If for some reason, only 30 donors present themselves per day for three days running, by the fourth day the bank will be looking out for more donors. Normally reserves just balance out but there are two levels of emergency.

When blood reserves are low, the ultimate measure would be to cancel elective non-urgent operations in order to deal with emergencies. The other scenario is when there is not enough even to cater for pre-set operations. That is when the bank issues an urgent plea for donations . This is not done too often, as if people are faced with an alarming call for blood every day through the media, they will eventually not bother to listen at all.

The most important blood types to consider are A+, and O+, which make up 85% of the whole population, and thereby create 85% of the demand. However O- and B+ are also focused upon, as both have peculiarities of their own.

Donation is not remunerated and prospective donors have to be tested for eligibility before giving blood. Following the donation itself, blood is tested for infectious markers using increasingly sensitive screening tests for hepatitis B and C, HIV, syphilis, liver function and another test for those exposed to hepatitis B. Filtering removes viruses of illnesses such as mad cow disease. The Blood Bank does not offer a diagnostic service, although should a donor be found to be suffering from a disorder, he/she will be informed and given adequate counselling and support.