Village Near Arundel Plays A New Role In NHS Covid-19 Research

Wednesday, 25 November 2020 12:27

By John Warburton @Warblefly

Arundel: new NHS plasma donation centre in scientific fight to combat Covid-19

A village near Arundel in West Sussex now hosts one of four specialist NHS blood plasma donation centres in England's south-east — and needs to hear from anyone who's had the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which produces the disease Covid-19.

NHS Blood and Transplant has opened the doors of its new plasma donation centre at the Hilton Avisford Park on Yapton Lane in Walberton, west of Arundel.

The nation's healthcare service has today (November 25) issued an urgent call to anyone who has had COVID-19 to register as a donor.

Plasma collected at the centre will be used in clinical trials to determine whether the antibody-rich blood plasma found in people who've had coronavirus — known as convalescent plasma — could be an effective treatment for COVID-19.

The plasma is transfused into patients who are struggling to develop their own immune response.

The antibodies could slow or stop the virus spreading, which could save lives.

Around 35 people are already booked in to donate at the centre.

This plasma centre makes four in the South East, the other centres are already open in Oxford, Southampton and Reading.

Around 275 people have already received transfusions at hospitals in the region as part of the trials.

Donations are urgently needed so that if the trials confirm patient benefit, plasma can be made readily available for general use in the NHS.

You can register online by searching 'donate plasma' or by clicking here.

Lee Wright, NHSBT area manager, said:

"We would love to see people in and around Arundel offering to donate so we can book them into donation appointments now.

"Donation is safe and easy, and you could save lives. Your body quickly replaces the antibodies afterwards."

Anyone over 17 who has had COVID-19 can offer to donate blood plasma donor.

According to the NHS, donating is easy — it takes just 45 minutes and the whole appointment, including time for snacks, lasts approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.

NHSBT especially needs more male and BAME donors to come forward as their plasma is more likely to contain the higher levels of antibodies required.

People who needed hospital treatment are especially likely to have high antibody levels.

The Arundel donor centre is now one of a number centres around the country.

By the end of this year, there will be 42 plasma donation points across England so that 80% of potential donors can reach one within 45 minutes.

With three other centres in the region, over 1250 people in the South East registered online as willing donors last week.