Blood donor service now ended in Amble
Blood donor sessions in Amble have now been cancelled. Anyone wanting to give blood should now go to Willowburn Leisure Centre in Alnwick.
Sessions had been held at the Radcliffe Club in recent months, ever since the Dovecote Centre closed.
Radcliffe Club manager Charlene Allan said she was surprised at the cancellation and only found out when blood donors told her their next sessions were to be held in Alnwick. “There’s no other within a 10 mile radius, we already cover Warkworth, Hadston, Broomhill, Widdrington etc. They’ve not actually told us as a venue yet.”
Jane Green, Assistant Director Blood Donation Operations – North, told The Ambler: “Hospital blood use is declining by 3-4% a year and this means that sometimes we need to reduce the amount of blood donation sessions that we hold. It’s important that we do not waste precious donations by collecting too much blood.
“We have made the difficult decision to close the session held at Radcliffe Workingmens’ Club in Amble and we thank our donors for their life-saving generosity. This was a smaller six-bed session that could only accommodate a limited number of donors. The session was also in a more rural area with a higher travel time for our mobile team.
“We greatly value the generosity and commitment shown by our Amble donors. We appreciate it may be too difficult for many people in Amble to travel to an alternative session and we thank them for the lives they have already saved.”
Charlene said “I can see a dip in the amount willing to travel so far to give blood. Such a shame for what is an important cause.”
Anna Williams
