Lifeblood announces new WA Pop-Up donor centre trial for 2024

Western Australians will have more opportunities to donate blood next year, with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood today announcing a new pop-up donor centre will be trialled in the state in 2024.

Following a nationwide review of the existing donor centre network, Lifeblood will expand its current WA network of nine donor centres by trialling a WA Pop-Up Donor Centre.

Pop-up donor centres are mobile donor centres that operate from a local venue, such as a community hall, and are set-up and packed down for each visit.

While details for the WA Pop-Up Donor Centre trial are still being finalised, the WA regional communities of Kalgoorlie and Geraldton are expected to be amongst the first towns visited once the pop-up is up and running in the second half of 2024.

Lifeblood Executive Director of Donor Experience Cath Stone said with demand for blood and plasma continuing to increase, expanding Lifeblood’s WA donor centre network would help increase donations across the country.

“Demand for blood is at the highest level in a decade, and plasma demand is at its highest level ever,” Ms Stone said.

“With no signs of this demand slowing down, we’ve decided to trial a new pop-up donor centre in WA to see if it is viable and can assist us to meet Australia’s future blood and plasma needs. We’re hoping our WA Pop-Up will collect around 40 extra blood donations a day.”

The location of pop-up visits is based on a number of factors including proximity to our processing centres, population size, estimated donation rate, suitable venue availability, access to regional communities, and availability of qualified staff.

Ms Stone said as well as helping to meet increasing demand for blood and plasma products, the pop-up will provide more donation options for regional communities.

“While 90-95 per cent of Australia’s population already live within an hour of a donor centre, we’re always looking for ways to enable more people to donate blood, so it’s great to be able to offer donation options in extra communities,” she said.

“We know regional WA in particular has limited opportunities to donate blood, so we’re excited to be able to give more Western Australian’s a chance to contribute to the nation’s blood supply and to the wider Australian community.”

Once established, the pop-up will operate in WA for an initial trial period of 12 months. At the end of the trial, Lifeblood will review how well appointments have been filled.

All blood donations made at the WA pop-up will be sent to Perth for testing and processing before being distributed to hospitals around the country as needed.