BLOOD donations are critical to the NHS but the vital donor service has been hampered during the coronavirus pandemic as many venues have either been closed, are being used for other crucial services or cannot accommodate the social distancing regulations.

The Heath Business and Technical Park in Runcorn has been a regular location for the north west arm of the NHS Blood and Transplantation Service.

At the start of the month, The Heath opened its events space for blood donations again.

Sarah Storish, regional planning co-ordinator for NHS Blood and Transplantation Service North West, said: “The Heath is an ideal location because of the spacious rooms it has available which are particularly important at a time when we need to ensure that our donors can self-distance when they come to donate blood.

“We’ve worked hard to assure people that it is safe to donate blood during the pandemic, but it has been understandably difficult. Some of our donors may have been self-isolating and we have had issues with some of our regular venues being closed or not having the staff available to host us.

“Overall, we have managed to maintain blood supplies to ensure there wasn’t a shortage.

"This has been helped by the fact that during lockdown hospitals were not carrying out non-urgent operations, but as the hospitals get back towards a more normal operating process there’s going to be bigger demand for blood.

"It’s important now that we can encourage people to attend our donor sessions so we can keep pace with the increased demand.”

John Lewis MBE, owner of The Heath Business and Technical Park, added: “Although first and foremost we are a major business centre, The Heath is also an important centre for the community.

"The blood donation service is massively important, and I’m pleased that we are able to offer our resources to support their efforts. We have the ability to provide space here which can be adapted to their requirements, accommodate all their equipment while meeting the self-distancing regulations.

“I hope that the many businesses located at The Heath and the community from the surrounding area will continue to support this vital service.”

The Blood Donor team will be back at The Heath on September 30th.

For further information of making blood donations visit www.blood.co.uk