Shetland to miss out on blood donation trial

ORKNEY has been selected to host pilot blood donation sessions next month – with Shetland missing out.

The Scottish Blood Transfusion Service (SBTS) will visit Orkney between 12-14 May, with people encouraged to give blood at sessions at the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall.

However SBTS will not travel north afterwards, meaning people in Shetland will have to venture south if they want to donate blood.

There is no way currently for Shetlanders to donate blood in the isles.

Shetland was considered for the trial but Orkney was picked instead, SBTS’ head of donor services for the north told Shetland News.

“We did consider all the islands as possibilities for the pilot but on this occasion selected Orkney,” Sylvia Armstrong-Fisher said.

“It is logistically lower risk due to the relatively short ferry crossing which allows the blood to be returned to the Jack Copland Centre in Edinburgh for processing within the regulatory timeframe.

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“This is vital to meet mandatory quality regulations and ensure it can safely be processed to benefit patients in Scotland.”

SBTS is aiming to increase its blood collection to the whole of Scotland, she said, with the pilot project in Orkney a key test for whether it can work.

“Following these sessions SNBTS will carry out a full review which will include looking at the costs and benefits,” she added.

“This will inform a decision on whether to continue this model and potentially expand it to include other areas.”

A successful trial donor session was held in Orkney in 2009, but a feasibility study concluded in 2017 there were “significant issues” with reliably transporting blood to the mainland.

The issue of a lack of local places for Shetlanders to donate blood came to the fore in 2022 when 20-year-old Luke Malcolmson was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

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People were encouraged to donate blood for Luke’s treatment, with charity Give Blood 4 Good leading the calls.

However anyone wishing to do so had to make their way to donor centres in Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh or Livingston.

Orkney’s MSP Liam McArthur has been campaigning for blood donation services to return there, and he said there were high levels of support among people in the islands.

“I well remember the crowds that gathered to donate blood back in 2009 when the trial sessions were run, and constituents have contacted me regularly over the years asking why similar sessions haven’t been repeated,” he said.

“I know there have been logistical challenges in establishing more regular opportunities for islanders to donate. “I have no doubt that the sessions in May will prove every bit as popular as those held back in 2009.”