Nearly 650 people gave blood at a pop-up donation hub at Caerphilly leisure centre.

The hub, which was at the leisure centre for a week between Monday, May 11 and Friday, May 15, attracted 643 donors – 130 of which had never given blood before.

Due to disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Welsh Blood Service had to cancel a number of donation sessions. However, the organisation was able to arrange five regional hubs across Wales each week, urging donors not to travel more than 15 miles.

Alan Prosser, director of the Welsh Blood Service, said: “When it became clear we couldn’t continue with business as usual, we knew we’d have to ask donors to donate differently. Our regional donation hubs have replaced our usual local collections programme and the response from donors has been remarkable.” 

Mr Prosser added: “In April 2019, around 12% of those that attended our donation sessions were new donors. This April, around 17% of our attendance has been people who had never given before. 

“We’ve also see a surge in the number of donors who haven’t given in years returning to our sessions to help us boost stocks. It’s been amazing and we’re hugely grateful.

“Blood stocks are currently very healthy thanks to the commitment of new and existing donors but we need people to keep giving blood to ensure we can continue to meet hospital demand in the coming months.”

For more information about giving blood, visit welsh-blood.org.uk