Adderbury man Andy Howard has donated blood to the NHS for the past 30 years but has recently come up against a wall when trying to give blood. After seeing advertisements detailing a national blood shortage due to a cyber attack on hospitals in London this month, he rang up to arrange a donation appointment. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Banbury Guardian, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
However, upon speaking to staff at NHS Blood and Transplant, Andy was told that he would have to wait over a month for a local appointment or travel around 45 minutes to another centre. Andy said: “They are saying there is an urgent need for blood, but it's impossible to book an appointment. I was willing to give my blood, but I wasn't willing to drive miles to do it.
” Andy believes the lack of available appointments is directly related to staff cuts and the retirement of the old community blood donation vans, which have not been replaced. Instead of visiting the community vans that would travel to some of the villages around Banbury , local blood donors now all have to use the centre at The Peoples Church in Banbury. Advertisement Advertisement Andy added: “I got frustrated by it all.
I was a blood donor for 30 years, but when they stopped using local centres like Kings Sutton, the process seemed to have got a lot harder. "I think government cuts and the retirement of the mobile units have resulted in there be.
