Donors fail to give blood over long delays

LIFE-SAVING donors left a clinic in a mid-west hotel without giving blood because of excessive waiting delays.

Almost 170 potential donors went to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service’s clinic at Kilmurry Lodge Hotel, Castletroy, on Tuesday last, but a large number left without giving blood because of delays of three hours due to staff shortages.

IBTS Donor Services office manager, Jim Shanahan, said the recent delay was due to the nationwide public service embargo on staff recruitment and it should not have happened.

“It’s not our intention that people should have to wait that long,” he said. “It is reasonable that they would want to leave. Our commitment to them is to work and get them through as quickly as possible. We failed on this day and we recognise that. There are issues with resources and staffing. We are under the public service embargo so we’re not allowed to recruit more staff.”

Due to the lengthy waiting times many donors left the clinic after registering — leaving the IBTS without possible life-saving donors.

Among those who spent more than three hours at the clinic were a large number of students from nearby University of Limerick (UL).

“People shouldn’t have to wait three hours. Our target is to have 95% of donors through in one hour or less. When we fail on that, we have to look at the reasons why,” said Mr Shanahan.

“We do appreciate the number of donors that did come out. If the donors are willing to wait, we will get them through. Our commitment to donors is to work as quickly as possible with them.”

“We’re fairly good at predicting the numbers that will attend clinics, but with the Kilmurry Lodge we were out by about 50%.”

IBTS Limerick area manager, Aileen Browne, also said the staffing embargo, was a reason for the delays experienced in Castletroy.

“It would have had an impact,” she said.

“But it was the volume of people and the pattern in which they came that caused the greatest knock-on effect.”

Ms Browne said the night in question was the busiest clinic at the Kilmurry Lodge for two years.

“It is one of our strongest clinics, but it’s quite unpredictable. It’s hard to tell when the students will come in,” she said.

IBTS spent one day at the clinic this week, however, it normally spends two consecutive days on certain visits.

It also holds a clinic on the university campus once a year.

Ms Browne said those who had left the clinic on Tuesday night would be contacted.

“We will apologise and inform them of other clinics,” she said.