A DECISION to close a town’s blood donor session has upset residents, with many regular donors unable to make the 20-mile round trip to the alternative venue.

Blood donors in Weardale, County Durham, received letters this week informing them that the Wolsingham School Sports Hall session would no longer take place. Instead, NHS Blood and Transport invited donors to attend sessions at St Patrick’s Hall in Consett.

This is ten miles away with poor public transport links, meaning donors who do not drive will struggle to get there.

The decision reflects a decline in blood use in recent years due to improvements in clinical practises and surgical procedures. This means the public body has to plan its donor sessions carefully to avoid collecting too much blood.

Jane Green, assistant director of blood donation operations, said the closure would not affect the supply to local hospitals.

“Hospital blood use is declining by three to four per cent a year and this means that sometimes we need to reduce the amount of blood donation sessions that we hold,” she said.

“It’s important that we do not waste precious donations by collecting too much blood. We have made the difficult decision to close the session held at Wolsingham School Sports Hall in Wolsingham and we thank our donors for their life-saving generosity.

“This was a smaller six-bed session that could only accommodate a limited number of donors. The session was also in a more rural area with a higher travel time for our mobile team.”

Angela Bell, from Wolsingham, has donated blood 23 times. Her blood type, A negative, is especially valuable as its platelets are so versatile.

“I don’t drive and there are only three buses a day to Consett,” she said. “The last one sets off just after 2pm doesn’t come back. I can’t understand why Wolsingham is being closed as it was always so busy and difficult to get appointments”

Kelsey Taylor, 17, who has waited more than six months for her first appointment, said the letter did not explain the situation properly, adding: “It sounded like it was all to do with the cost. I think that is what has upset people so much.”

NHS Transplant and Blood still needs to collect about 6,000 donations a day.

It must also attract 200,000 new donors a year to secure the donor base of the future and to ensure it has the right mix of blood groups.