This inspection looked at the services provided from the Blood Donor Centre based within Southmead Hospital and one mobile blood donor session in the community. We were checking that the donor care processes for people who were donating blood (referred to as donors) was safe.

We spoke with 12 donors, eight donor carers, three qualified nurses and other senior managers.

We found that donors were involved in making decisions about donating, consented to donate and were well looked after during the donation procedure. The health and welfare of donors was paramount and donors were provided with sufficient post-donation information to know what to do if they were unwell. There were stringent procedures in place to ensure that recipients of whole blood and blood component products were not placed at risk of receiving unsafe products.

There were standard operating procedures for all staff to follow for the entire whole blood or blood component donation process. This ensured that infection prevention and control measures were in place. Blood donation was carried out in premises that were fit for purpose.

Donors were looked after by donor carers and qualified nurses who were well trained and supported to do their job. NHS Blood and Transplant had robust measures in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service and used donor feedback to review and amend service delivery.