Stand All Day; No Way!!

An official complaint has been sent the the Health and Safety Executive over the continuing refusal of the NHSBT to allow chairs in the pods under OTP. Though they have backed down on the issue of disabled staff, they are still insisting that you make yourself ill before you are allowed a chair.

There are numerous reports of staff suffering from backaches since the introduction of OTP. The so-called corrective action of frequent rotation from the pods does not work in practice as it is based on having the proper skill mix (still not achieved on many teams) and the ability to rotate to another task that does not require standing. It also causes delays as the job you are moving to may not be vacant for several minutes.

Added to the delays caused by the post-donation care of donors and the re-enforcement of the arm cleaning guidelines, many sessions are now finishing an hour or so later than normal. If OTP was meant to reduce queueing and help with donor retention, it is not working with the number of staff the teams have available to them.