:grumble:

[burntcopper]

Why do I always, always forget the fact that when I give blood I go listless a few hours later (post the general wooziness that getting rid of a pint of blood tends to give you) which is no fun? Also, achey arm and bruised finger.

:grumble:

Oh, and the National Blood Service? less organised than a *trout*. Seriously. The London database is not hooked up with the rest of the country, does not seem to have been updated with my details even though I asked them to over two weeks ago, it keeps insisting that the last time I attempted to give blood was back in 2001 (went for an interview in London, tried as the van was there and it was coming up for due date, but because my details were still in Falmouth, I couldn't - don't ask, how do they cope with drop-ins?) even though I'm rather obviously in possession of a brown card that was issued fairly recently. (design changes every couple of years, colour changes with number of times you've given - red is 1-4, blue is 5-9, brown is 10-25, etc)

:sigh: Twats. Really.

Though as usual, the actual experience is fun - chatty nurses, biccits and squash and cups of tea, doctors going 'er... please specify when and where you went overseas/were in a malarial country' and commiserating over the stupidity of having a question on there that says 'have you ever had sex with someone who's injected drugs or steroids/had sex with another bloke/paid for sex' because that is not exactly something that comes up in conversation during one night stands. Or short relationships. And exactly why there is no rule against girls who've had anal sex because surely that's just as risky as gay and bisexual men, who are banned from giving blood precisely because of this.

Also when the nurse tells a new donor 'we recommend not drinking alcohol for six hours after', I butted in and told them about what happened at Jo's birthday meal and thus recommended not drinking at all until the next day. There's the whole embarrassment factor to contend with. Because one drink and it went so much to my head that I slid off my chair.

Donor center on Margaret Street (it's off Regent Street past Niketown) has a very cool energy-saving device for the lights in the loos. Infra-red sensor is positioned to catch anyone who comes in, lights turn on, lights go off when you go out. I was very tempted to keep popping in for two seconds just to test the sensor.

Comments

[sakara75.livejournal.com]

ah, ive not had this experience as i cant donate...the drugs i take bar me...plus tatoos

[mrslant]

And exactly why there is no rule against girls who've had anal sex because surely that's just as risky as gay and bisexual men, who are banned from giving blood precisely because of this.

Because as Queen Victoria pointed out when she vetoed a proposed law to criminalise lesbianism, no woman would do anything so disgusting...

I'm sure there's no objective justification for that ridiculous list of people who can't give blood - after all most gay men don't have HIV - it's just a manifestation of homophobia and censoriousness. I can't be the only person who's been put off signing up as a donor by their bad attitude.

[lasayla.livejournal.com]

Yep, the GLBT at university had a big campaign running to get NBS to change the wording.

Also, none of the regional blood services are linked up. I moved from the North West to the Midlands and back to the North West. I thought I was going crazy because they were convinced it had been over a year since my last donation and made me go through all the rigmarole again, even though I knew damn well I'd been donating at work in Birmingham.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

Precisely. I saw the nurse updating the details on the computer at reception, and they still printed out a form that said 'last tried in 2001' to the doctor taking samples and history.

You know what they said? 'oh, it's supposed to be updated soon.' Me: 'They said that in 2001.'

This is the 21st century. There are simple programs that will collate and cross-reference databases very quickly and easily. They get used every day at most businesses. Why the NHS can't do this I don't know. (also, I got a look at the screen - the program they're using looks like something out of the early nineties)

[mrslant]

They get used every day at most businesses. Why the NHS can't do this I don't know. (also, I got a look at the screen - the program they're using looks like something out of the early nineties)

Welcome to the public sector! The program probably is from the early nineties - the High Court still asks for electronically-submitted documents to be formatted for WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS!

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

Some of them I get. Illnesses, dentist that day, malarial country (I almost certainly have some very nasty antibodies still charging around my system), hepatitis, CJD, sharing needles, etc.

On the other hand, blood service, there's this thing called condoms. And to add to the 'if you're going to ban these people' list, what about people who indulge in bloodplay or similar? Not once on there do I see anything about other risky sex practices.

Other wtf-ery : 'have you been outside the country?' They even note down if you've been to *europe* in the last two years. Hello, there's ths thing that's been happening for the last half-century in the UK, and it's called cheap flights to sunny climes.

Mind you, apparently it's near-impossible to give blood if you're british in the US.

[mrslant]

Doubtless they've never heard of any exotic sexual practices - the Blood Service only does it with Mrs Blood Service, in the missionary position, with the lights out and without removing its winceyette pyjamas - but they know there are such things as filthy queers and they're all diseased, as are all foreigners of course (and they eat funny food), and the Yanks know all Brits have mad cow disease!

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

my fave about the US mad cow thing? CJD has only ever once been transferred by blood. In a lab test on mice where they injected it directly into the mouse's brain. So of *course* there's a risk of getting it through blood transfusion. uh-huh.

[mrslant]

Fits in with what's now the standard US posture towards the rest of the world - fear and aggression, regardless of the facts.