Blood service closures 'puzzling'
February 15, 2007 9:00 AM
David Howarth, MP for Cambridge, has joined protesters against the closure of labs in the Cambridge Blood Centre.
The Platelet Immunology Reference Laboratory, Red Cell Immunohaematology and Reagent Production departments will be closed with work moved to Liverpool, Bristol and North London.
Mr. Howarth commented:
"These proposals are extremely puzzling. The reasons given for the closures here in Cambridge do not make any sense. The Blood Service is blaming reduced numbers of blood donors and out of date buildings, but here in Cambridge the service is based in Addenbrooke's Hospital and the staff who are losing their jobs are specialist staff dealing with neo-natal blood and manufacturing the chemical reagents used to test blood; these staff are not dealing with blood donors.
David Howarth joins the protesters at Addenbrooke's
"Many of these staff will not be able to move with the jobs to North London or Liverpool. These are highly trained specialist staff. It will cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to train new staff to replace them. I fail to see how this is meant to save money or improve the service."
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