GiveBlood NHS  Reviews 

My last two attempts to give blood got cancelled and there were several months between them, so it wasn’t just a busy week/month, it was extremely poor organisation. For the second one, I had to move my acupuncture appointment (which I was really looking forward to!) to make sure I can donate with no issues and all of this just to receive a cancellation via text several hours before my appointment. You can’t disrespect donors and their plans and afterwards bombard them with messages of encouragement to donate, as this just doesn’t make any sense. Donors do try their best for you, you could at least show your respect to them by organising your own operations.

I have donated blood yesterday at Brunel’s University. What can I say - excellent service from my arrival till the end. NHS staff were so friendly and nice, they explained everything from a-z, the atmosphere was brilliant! Will donate soon again!! Thank you 🙏 Egle

Please don't forget the importance of this service and encourage all eligble donors to do so. The whole experience is very positive, booking and rebooking is fine. Please show patience, especially with booking with the mobile units who may only be in your area every several months.

The staff make you feel like a king or queen and you get free kit kats - what's not to like about that!

There have been a number of excellent information improvements on the site, such as just how valuable your donation is to real people and the difference it makes. One new feature is that they tell you what hospital/dept your blood donation goes to. Excellent feature.

This is a not for profit organisation, part of our NHS and it only functions with all our help. Please make a difference and donate.

Frustrated at cancelled appointments after booking them months in advance. I wish they were honest and said if they don’t need your blood as they’ve got enough of that type then tell you. They need to be more transparent, puts me off giving blood in the future.

Excellent first experience. Very well organised, efficient and great people.
Thank you.

I’ve done this about 6 times now, it’s a fantastic cause to be involved in, donating blood for cancer patients and premature babies and hospital emergencies who need it, very helpful nurses attend you while you are donating, many more donors needed to , a big thumbs up for this always

I went to give blood at Exeter Corn Exchange earlier today. All of the staff were really friendly and professional throughout (as always), social distancing was respected, and even though there is clearly a lot more pressure on the NHS right now, the waiting time to donate was very short. Thank you to all of the workers at the Corn Exchange today!

Have given blood 15 plus times now and have never had a bad experience. The staff have always been utterly professional and just as importantly they have always been friendly too. They always strive to have you in and out in about one hour which is reassuring for those who have a busy schedule. Free drinks and snacks afterwards too!

I tried to give blood today, I have waited 8 months to be allowed after the birth of my daughter but unfortunately had to cancel my appointment I had booked with my husband due to a close family death. Anyway I rebooked an appointment but was unable to get one with my hubby so asked on the phone about having my daughter with me and if that was ok, I was assured this was fine as long as she can sit and entertain herself which she is happy to do. So I arrive and explained that my daughter will sit happily on a blanket on the floor next to the bed and play, the first lady said 'lovely, please take a seat'. After 5 minutes of waiting a nurse approaches me and tells me it's against H and S rules to have a baby on the floor, could I please go and get my pram. I agreed and said that's fine but she wont be as settled in the pram just because that how my daughter is. So off I went to get the pram and returned to the waiting area, I then waited 30 minutes for another nurse to finally start the process by which time my daughter is getting a little touchy because shes in her pram. After all the questions and the finger prod another nurse approaches me and tells me I am unable to donate today as my daughter is looking upset which will upset other patients and she doesn't think its appropriate! I was shocked as I had been there for over 45 minutes by now and asked them why they hadn't told me before. They said they were leaving me until last because I had a baby and didn't want me to disturb or distract the other patients...I'm still struggling to understand any logic there? So not only did I not donate but I also wasted 2 1/2 hours and fuel as I had to drive 16 miles both ways as it was a last minute booking and couldn't get anything more local!

I understand the issues that arose but seriously you need to have a set policy in place so all the staff know what to advice, I will not bother trying to go on my own with my daughter again but I just wish the person on the phone could have adviced me better or the staff at the centre to advice me sooner!

I give blood as often as possible, the staff are so good and friendly and it’s really such a good thing to be a part of. Great job guys - and give if you can!!!

Some of the most politest and friendliest people you can’t me across. I appreciate they are realiant on blood donations so are probably trained to thank donors but I have been on the sessions right on the last knockings. Some of the staff have completed twelve hours shifts: only come to the end of it they have to load all the equipment chairs beds into a 7.5 ton truck.

This experience won’t stop me from donating, but hopefully it’ll inform anyone else in a similar situation. —-

I’ve been trying to donate since last July after having a miscarriage. I knew they had a protocol regarding donating after this, so I let an adviser know via telephone and informed her that I would like to start donating again as soon as possible. She said she amended my profile and that I could start booking appointments, however following that phone call I was blocked from booking till Feb 2019. I had to contact them again asking them to re-open my profile but none of my information had been updated therefore I had to explain the painful details of my recent miscarriage to a different adviser on the phone. Unbelievably I had to do this AGAIN for a third time as the second and third adviser didn’t update my details either! Eventually I just left it and just won’t bother donating till Feb 2019. Very disappointing, especially when you actually want to donate and save lives.

Donated blood and other samples.
Quiet an experience to remember.

Some gaps identified in infrastructure and service orientation architecture.

Could do better

I've been trying to donate my 71st (in the UK) pint of blood since 14 November 2017 but unfortunately, the GiveBlood NHS service seems to think it is amusing to arrange an appointment some months before the event, then text and email one continually in the days leading to the appointment with manipulative comments about how important your donation will be and how dreadful it will be if you don't turn up and then .... an hour before you are due to attend ... they send you a text to say your appointment is cancelled! On investigation, at first it appears the session is cancelled but, if you sleuth a bit (and after the cancellation has been confirmed by Blood HQ) you discover ... this is not the case ... the session IS taking place, the van IS there, the staff IS there, everything IS as it should be for a blood donation session BUT ... they don't want your blood group; you are not a 'rare' group - you are a boring, regular, common group so ... they don't want you to appear today so they pretend there are staff shortages to cover this! They've got enough of yours ... never mind you booked the appointment months ago, never mind they have been manipulating you like crazy for the last few days about how AWFUL it will be if you do not turn up to give blood to all the people who are desperate to get your group, never mind you have said 'no' to other entertainments or commitments (coz I'm giving blood) ... they aren't interested in any of that - you are simply not on their list for today anymore. I really wonder how they can do this over and over and over again. This is the third time in the last year my booked and confirmed appointment has been cancelled by the NHS Blood service less than three hours before I'm supposed to be rolling up my sleeve! Are they taking the ... or just in a rather rude way, telling me there is something wrong with my blood??? What a very funny way to treat people who are trying to help the Blood Service, don't you think?