Extra days next year to give blood

If you have missed out on donating blood in September’s mobile blood collection in Nelson, the good news is the enthusiasm of local donors has prompted an extra collection to be added next year.

Nelson Tasman blood donors had three mobile blood collections this year and only 200 people have been able to donate blood for each collection.

Next year there will be four collections. NZ Blood donor relations team leader Southern, Boyd Warren, says at this stage the 2025 collections are planned in March, June, August and October.

“Nelsonians always come out in force whenever we visit, so we are thrilled to be adding another opportunity for them to donate next year.”

He says the busy holiday season and medical guidelines for time between donations creates some planning challenges, but the service is committed to visiting Nelson as often as possible.

It aims to collect 215 donations per three-day visit.

It can be challenging for potential donors to book an appointment and Boyd says NZ Blood tends to initially contact existing donors via NZBS app or email and if there are any appointment gaps to fill, it calls potential donors directly.

The mobile blood collection units are the only way for blood donors in the region to donate blood locally.

Gone are the days when donors turned up at places such as the Richmond Town Hall without an appointment when collection days were run.

Boyd says blood has not been processed at Nelson Hospital since 1998 when the New Zealand Blood Service was established. Since then, blood from donors has been flown to a processing laboratory in Christchurch at the end of each collection day.

While blood donations from the community will still be limited, Boyd says there is an increasing need for donations to meet the increasing demand that is driven by population growth.

He says there is a delicate balance though between supply and demand.

The situation with plasma is more critical as NZ Blood relies on about 17,500 donors who collectively provided 94,000 units of plasma last year. In the next 12 months, it needs 1,500 more people to start donating plasma regularly to keep up with demand. “Our plasma collection targets are set to increase by 50 per cent over the next three years.”

To check appointment availability download the NZBS app.