Barnet and Camden Assembly Member Andrew Dismore has the following story about the closure of the Colindale Blood Testing Lab. The lab tests blood donations. Andrew points out that the closure of the lab leaves non in London or the South East, where almost a third of the population of the country live.
He says "Due to the diverse ethnic makeup of London, blood screening from donors within the London area are more challenging to screen, for example for sickle cell patients. The only two other centres in the country at Filton and at Manchester do not share the expertise and experience of staff in Colindale.
There are also more general risks, from communication problems in physically taking the samples to Filton from all overLondon, with risks from bad weather in winter, to motorway problems. There are further risks, in sending the results back through computer links, if those links are disrupted."
