On 12th February I had my first blood donation appointment. I thought I would share the process of giving blood and my experience here with you in the hope that you might donate too!

The whole process started back in November 2017 when I registered as a donor. You can do that here.  It is so straightforward to register. The next step is selecting an appointment in your local area. There were quite a few that I could choose from but the closest date and time I could make wasn’t until February. So be prepared that it might be a while before your actual appointment.

After I had registered I received some emails confirming my registration and appointment. You get an account where you can see your details, when you registered and your appointment. You can manage your appointments in your account too.

I received a form in the post about a week before which was a checklist that I had to complete asking me questions about my health, medication, trips abroad, tattoos etc. This was really easy to fill in as it was a simple tick checklist.

Donation Day

On the day I arrived at the venue with my checklist. It was so busy!! It was a warm and welcoming environment and I felt very much at ease. I checked in and then sat down to read the booklet they give you on arrival.

Shortly after my appointment time I was called over into a small cubicle where a man asked me to confirm my details and went through the checklist with me, checking whether I was indeed able to give blood. He then explained that a nurse would come and take a sample of my blood to check that my haemoglobin levels were high enough for me to donate. This is a simple test done with a finger prick and they squirt the blood into some liquid and if it does what they expect then your levels are fine to donate. If the test is inconclusive- as it was with me- they then need to take another sample of blood from your arm and test this a different way. My result was inconclusive so I had to have the extra blood test. The idea being that they don’t want your levels to drop too low after donation. The level is 125 for women and 135 for men. Mine was exactly 125!

The donation

Following this check, they ask you to take a seat and to drink a pint of water which helps with blood pressure. Once you’ve done this they take you to a little donation station. This is a swinging chair where they hook you up to the bag and the whole donation process took me about 10-15 minutes. I had my audio book with me so just chilled out with that while it took place. You need to keep your hand moving while it’s all going on, opening and closing of the fist or rolling of the fingers. It really didn’t hurt at all!

When you’ve completed the donation, a nurse comes and unhooks you and you go to the refreshment station for a drink and a snack. They like you to hang around for a few minutes just so they can check that you are ok.

The whole process was so easy from start to finish and all the members of staff I dealt with were lovely and caring. I must admit that I was nervous and I didn’t know what to expect, which is why I wanted to write this post for others, but there really is nothing to worry about and I was made to feel very welcome and at ease the whole time.

According to the website they need over 6,000 donations A DAY! And each year they need another 200,000 NEW donors. These are crazy stats really and make me glad that I am now a blood donor.

Have you ever given blood? Would you now consider donating? If you have any questions, please do just ask!