World Blood Donor Day - June 14th 2009

It's World Blood Donor Day, an annual day around the globe to celebrate the amazing gift of life that blood donation and transfusion gives to thousands of people every day, and especially to promote volunteer blood donation (as opposed to paid donors), as this ensures the safest supply of blood.

'If you call them, they will come...'

Spain


Italy


Canada


Testing a donor's blood pre-donation for haemoglobin levels in the olden days



'That wasn't so bad...'









This is what happens to your blood



In the past it used to be stored in glass jars, as these old Red Cross pictures show





The finished product



Pure human solidarity



Today and every day 1,700 people in the UK will receive a blood transfusion

Want to learn more? Click these links:

Building this webpage

This is a blog written by rank and file NBS workers, straight from the horse’s mouth. We want to get our side of the story across without being shouted down by management, as often happens in the media, or waiting for remote national union officers to give a watered down version of how we are feeling and what we are doing.



Please help to make this an accurate and in-depth resource, by contributing. This blog is for us and by us!

* Reports are needed from staff from all across the NHS Blood and Transplant sector. Lab workers badly need stronger links with donor carers, transport, office staff and any other colleagues, including blood bank technicians in hospitals. We are divided at the moment but it doesn’t have to stay like this. How are you and your workmates feeling about the strategy? What action is being organised at your centre?

* If you get any articles or letters into the papers, scan the clipping and email it to the address below (jpeg format if possible) and we will get it up online.

* Supporters of the campaign - if you write to management or your MP and get any interesting replies they will be good to add to the blog as well.

* All are welcome to use the comments section as a message board/forum facility, for example for asking questions, suggesting ideas, or sending messages of solidarity and encouragement to staff.

* If you would like to go onto a mailing list to be informed of updates to the blog, contact the blog email address. (We will not pass your email to any spammer scum, neither will we clog up your inbox with unrelated mail you have not requested!)

Submit your content to: nbs.sos[AT]gmail.com
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Welcome to this blog

This blog is written and published by individual NBS staff. All opinions are the authors' own. This blog has no connections with any official organisations.

It has been set up to inform the public of a side of our current story which we feel needs wider exposure.

The National Blood Service is under severe attack from a restructuring strategy which staff are strongly opposed to. We want the public, including blood donors and patients, to be aware of the whole situation, as stakeholders, alongside the staff, in the future of the Service.

Thanks for reading, and please get in touch for more information.

Please visit us again for regular updates.