Blood Donation Centre Opens in Westfield


Call going out particularly for black donors to help sickle cell patients

Centre will be able to handle 19,400 blood donations a year
Centre will be able to handle 19,400 blood donations a year

A new blood donation centre has opened up inside the Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

It is on the first floor, between M&S and The Village, and has six full-time donor beds. The new centre can cope with up to 170 appointments a day.

First-time and regular blood donors are being urged to make appointments which opened on Monday (22 February).

The most acute need for transfusions at the moment is for sickle cell disease and thalassemia and there is a shortage of donors from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds – and it is their blood that is most urgently needed. The most effective transfusions use blood from donors of a similar ethnic background.

There are already many loyal donors in the Shepherd’s Bush area, but more are required. “By placing our new donor centre in Westfield, we hope to collect even more lifesaving donations,” said Daniel Clarke from NHS Blood & Transplant.

The new centre is the 24th permanent donor centre in England, and the first in west London. It has been designed with extra safety measures including distancing and additional deep-cleaning to ensure it is coronavirus-safe.

Inside the new centre for blood donors at Westfield London in White City

“It’s important to continue to give blood during the pandemic; it’s a positive act we can still perform that makes a big contribution,” added Daniel.

To meet demand, the new Westfield centre needs to collect more than 19,400 donations a year, with each donor having the potential to save up to three lives each time they donate.

Postgrad student Mary Adeturinmo, an ‘outreach ambassador’ for the blood transfusion service, has sickle cell disease and receives up to 10 units of blood a month to manage her condition.

Mary Adeturinmo is supporting the NHS Blood Donation #DearSickleCell campaign
Mary Adeturinmo is supporting the NHS Blood Donation #DearSickleCell campaign

Her health challenges include regular hospital admissions, chronic pain and three bouts of eye surgery because of the disease.

“I’ve been undergoing blood exchange for five years. It relieves major sickle cell crises and helps me maintain my normal life,” she said. “Recently I became unable to walk. I had the treatment, and it gave me back my mobility.”

People from all communities and ethnic backgrounds are needed at the new Westfield centre. Currently just under six per cent of all active donors are from BAME backgrounds.

You can book an appointment to give blood at Westfield by calling 0300 123 23 23 or by visiting the NHS Blood Donation website.

There are four main blood groups – O, A, B and AB – it’s O negative (the universal blood group) and B negative that are particularly vulnerable to shortfalls.


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March 1, 2021