00:00So what made you start donating blood for the first time?
00:03I have to say it was my father because he was a blood donor and he encouraged me to do it.
00:12So as soon as I was old enough I did and he went on to do a hundred blood donations as well.
00:19I remember him getting a plate and he went for a special dinner at some posh stew.
00:26I don't think I'm going to get that this time but I'm very pleased to have matched his record.
00:32So that was really the reason, that was the motivation.
00:36And I think it's a good thing, I mean it doesn't cost anything and you can help people so why not?
00:43I understand that one donation goes to three different people, I mean that's 300 people you've helped.
00:51Yeah, well that's something I learned today actually that the nurse was telling me and that delights me.
00:57One of the things that you do get now as a donor in the modern mobile age is you get a text telling you where your blood's being used.
01:06So my last donation I think went to a hospital in Stevenage.
01:11I don't know what it was for but hopefully it would have helped patients there and that's a really good feeling so why not?
01:18We've just had a milestone donor today who's given their hundredth donation.
01:22It's really, really important for people to give blood because obviously this is life saving work.
01:28Each donation can help up to three people and we're very grateful to our donors because if you didn't step forward to donate
01:36there won't be the blood that we need for patients in hospitals.
01:40So as I was saying each donation can help up to three people and we have thousands and thousands of patients in hospital requiring blood transfusions each day.
01:50If you volunteers didn't step forward we wouldn't be able to give that life saving treatment to the patients that need it.
01:57So we're very grateful particularly to people like David who's just done their 100th donation.
02:03And if people do want to donate blood how do they go about booking appointments?
02:07So there's several ways you can book an appointment.
02:10We do like you to come with an appointment because each day is very busy and we like to be able to give you the time you need to donate.
02:16So probably the best way is for people to go onto any search engine.
02:21If you type in blood it will bring up NHS BT which is NHS Blood and Transplant.
02:27It will then take you to a page where you can put your details in and it asks you a few questions.
02:32Then pop your postcode in and it will bring up all the local donation centres that are available.
02:38We travel around the area of Peterborough so you can find a venue that's near where you live or near where you work.
02:45And then a mutually convenient time for you and us and book into that slot and then we'll happily see you.
02:51Every time you come to donate we usually say allow about one hour to donate.
02:57That allows time for you to read all the important documentation so that we can make sure it's safe for you to donate.
03:02And that your blood is safe to give to a patient.
03:05It then gives us time to screen you which is part of making sure the blood is safe to give.
03:11And then we take you to a chair where you sit in the chair and give your actual donation.
03:16It's a sharp little scratch that goes when you have the needle put in but it's a discomfort rather than a pain really.
03:24And it's very fleeting, a few seconds of discomfort.
03:28The donation itself is painless, probably takes somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes.
03:33I'd say the average is about 8 minutes, 7 or 8 minutes.
03:38And then once that's all done you then get to go and have some refreshments and the celebratory custard cream that we're infamous for.
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