What happens to the blood after the donation?
A donation can be used as whole blood or can be separated into different blood products. There are three main types of blood products that are used within our specialist and emergency hospitals – whole blood, packed red blood cells, and plasma. They all have their own use depending on the illness of the patient as well as having different storage lifespans.
Blood collected from our donors can be stored as whole blood which has the shortest lifespan of all blood products with it being up to 28 days. Collected blood can also be separated using a centrifuge into plasma and packed red blood cells. Once the red blood cells are separated, they are combined with a solution to prolong the life and health of the cells, giving them a lifespan of 35 days. The plasma is separated into a storage bag and is frozen giving it a lifespan of 3 years; however, it can still be used for up to 5 years in certain situations (for example, in cases of rodenticide toxicity).
All blood products are stored and monitored in our dedicated blood bank with continuous temperature monitoring of the fridges and freezers to ensure quality control.