Published: Wednesday, 17th February, 2010 4:00pm

Too cold for blood donation at Leisure Centre

by Jim Stark

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BLOOD donors faced being unable to give a pint when the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service's withdrawal unit came to Cowdenbeath on Thursday.

The unit had planned two sessions in the town in the afternoon and evening, but came up against a problem.

Donor John McKinlay explained that when he went to Cowdenbeath Leisure Centre, where the session was being housed, he was told that the room was too cold for donations to be accepted.

John told the Times, "I first went just after two o'clock only to be told that the room was cold and for the time being no donations could be given.

"I went back about a bit later only to be told the same thing so I just had to go as I had taken time off work."

He added, "I was very disappointed as I am a regular donor and when I read in the Times that the service needed blood due to problems caused by the snow and ice with sessions at the beginning of the year, I was determined to go.

"There were a good few fellow donors disappointed because a quite a few were turned away."

Vincent Mooney, Edinburgh Donor Services Manager, said, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those blood donors who were able to donate blood at our recent Blood Donor Session in Cowdenbeath.

"However, I would like to offer my sincere apologies to all those blood donors who were unable to donate on this occasion due to the late opening time of the session, as a result of the cold temperature in the hall.

"We are governed closely by Health and Safety legislation in this area and this is extremely important not only from a donor and staff comfort perspective, but from an Infection Control standpoint.

"If staff and donors were not warm enough to be able to remove jackets, for example, this would contravene guidelines on Infection Control, when giving blood.

"Thankfully, we were able to take measures to increase the temperature and we were able to welcome along 170 donors to donate on the day, which was a tremendous response under the circumstances.

"I would like to thank all of our Cowdenbeath blood donors for giving blood, on behalf of all those patients whose lives have been saved and improved by their dedication to helping others.

"I hope we are able to welcome back all those donors who were unable to donate on this occasion and provide them with a much improved service".

If you have never given blood before, or haven't given for a while, visit the Service's website at www.scotblood.co.uk or call 0845-90-90-999, to find out where and when.