When you arrive to give blood, you will receive a warm welcome and your name will be entered into our system. You will then be asked to fill in a donor health questionnaire. You can see the form here, but must fill out an original when you come along, so please don't download it!
A nurse will also have a brief chat with you if you are a new donor, or if you have not given blood for 2 years or more. This is simply to check you are in general good health, and giving blood will not harm you or the person who receives it.
Next, the technical stuff! A small sample of blood will be taken from your finger. This is to test your haemoglobin level,or your iron level, to make sure your body can spare a pint of blood. After this, you will be offered a local anaesthetic before lying on the bed to give 482 mls of blood (which is actually less than a pint!). This process will last for up to ten minutes. You can then rest on the bed with your feet up for a few minutes before enjoying juice and biscuits. Congratulations - you've earned it!
 Once you have left the building... |
| ...your blood goes off to our labs for testing. We have two testing labs, in Glasgow and Edinburgh,both working round the clock. The following tests are carried out on every donation:
- HIV - All donations are tested for antibodies to the HIV1 and HIV2 viruses which cause AIDS
- Hepatitis viruses - Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver which may cause jaundice and sometimes liver failure. All donations are tested for hepatitis B and C.
- Syphilis - syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease, can be passed on through blood, so we test every donation.
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We carry out thousands of tests every day, and very rarely do any prove positive for infectious diseases. However,if we do identify any illness or infection we will contact you and offer confidential advice. And remember,you cannot catch any virus or infection from giving blood. All materials used in the donating process are sterile and only used once. Never give blood just to get a test. If you do, you risk infecting other people.
To speak to one of our qualified health care professionals in confidence, please call 0845 30 17 2 70 |
