The gift of giving blood

In February, Transfusion Practitioner, Jessica Bradbury, spoke to TV presenter Naga Munchetty on BBC 5Live for a special programme looking at the journey of blood donation.

Naga donated blood last year and she was notified by NHS Blood and Transplant that it was later used here at the Trust, potentially going on to help save the lives of our patients!

Jess, who is also a Red Cell Haematology Clinical Nurse Specialist, explained how after you’ve donated blood it’s split into three parts: red blood cells, plasma and platelets – meaning one donation could help up to three different patients.

Jess said: “Donating is a precious gift to give people who really need blood – it’s so important. As blood is split into three components, there’s a variety of different things it could help with. Donated blood could be used in theatres, when patients are having an operation, or when they have lost a lot of blood, in a trauma for example.

“It can also help patients with inherited blood disorders such as thalassemia, a rare anaemia, where patients need to have transfusions on a two to four week basis from birth, and sickle cell disease, where some patients have their red blood cells replaced every four to eight weeks.”

If you want to find out how you can donate blood, visit: www.blood.co.uk