A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BLOOD DELIVERY DRIVERS

09:00

Our first job is to collect the blood our crew didn’t need to use yesterday. Blood is a precious resource and must be stored at a specific temperature to avoid wastage. Therefore, we will take the unused blood back to the John Radcliffe hospital’s blood bank. After thorough checks, all suitable blood will be used for the hospital’s patients.

10:30

We’ve arrived at the John Radcliffe hospital with our special blood bags. These insulated bags have ice packs inside which keep the blood at the optimum temperature of 4 degrees. These bags are also used by the British Military!

Here’s what’s inside our blood bags. There’s two packs of O negative blood and two packs of frozen plasma. Blood is given to patients who are bleeding heavily and who have very low blood pressure. In these instances, patients are often unable to get sufficient oxygen to their vital organs. The fresh frozen plasma is given as it carries the clotting factors which help to stop blood loss.

13:30

There’s the helicopter in the background taking off. Should a patient unfortunately be in need of an emergency blood transfusion, the helicopter is kitted out with one of our insulated bags.