BLOOD donors have been left frustrated after being told their regular Dales donation centre will no longer operate – meaning many will no longer be able to donate.

Graham Roberts, from Coverdale, travelled to Leyburn regularly to donate blood, but said he was shocked when he was told the service would stop in the town because medical advancements meant not as much blood was needed now.

He said: “The last time I gave blood was in January, and normally I make a new appointment while I am there, but this time they said there were none available.

“I kept checking online and I was still unable to make a new appointment so I rang the blood donor service – who told me not as much blood is needed now due to advancements in surgery, and they were concentrating on busier areas of donations.

“I have been donating blood for 30 years so am really disappointed – this is another case of being penalised for living in a rural location.”

Mr Roberts said he was upset there had been no consultation to stop the donation surgery, and not even any notice.

He said his nearest centres would now be in Catterick Garrison or Bedale, but that it would be too far to travel.

“I already travel nine mines to Leyburn which is far enough so I don’t think I’ll be making an even longer journey – and lots of other people in the Dales will be in the same situation,” he said.

Dean Neill, head of region north for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We can confirm we are no longer holding blood donation sessions in Leyburn.

“We appreciate this may be disappointing to some of our loyal donors.

“Although we still need around 6,000 donations every day, hospitals need for blood has declined by about four per cent each year over the last few years.

“This is due to improvements in clinical and surgical practice and our own efforts to ensure blood is used appropriately. We only want to collect the right amount of blood so that we don't waste precious donations.

“It’s also very important that we collect blood efficiently so we can keep the costs for the NHS as low as possible. It took our team a significant amount of time to travel to Leyburn which reduced the amount of time we could spend collecting blood.

“We would like to thank everybody who has saved lives by donating blood in Leyburn.

“We have let our donors know about the change and told them about alternative sessions in locations including Colburn.”

Donors can visit www.blood.co.uk or call 0300-123-23-23.