November 16th, 2007 Yesterday I went to donate blood and was asked to donate in a procedure which is new for the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. It called a “double red” donation, which basically means that they take a double volume of red blood cells.
When I was giving the donation, I was informed that I was only the 8th person in Scotland to give in this manner, so that’s quite cool. This procedure is still on trial here, but I hope it becomes a success. Having it as a portable unit also means that you don’t have to go along to a hospital or other dedicated donor unit like you do with platelet donation.
I couldn’t find anything on the SNBTS site about “double red”, so here’s a quick explanation.
If you aren’t a blood donor, go along – it only takes 15 minutes!
