Welsh Blood Service partnership extended

Pontypridd Rugby Football Club and the Welsh Blood Service are delighted to announce the continuation of their current partnership. Both will continue to work together to raise awareness and to encourage more young people to donate blood during the 2008/09 season.

Pontypridd RFC Sales and Marketing Executive, Gareth Howells said:

We are delighted that the Welsh Blood Service has renewed its partnership with us for the 2008/09 season. This is a great partnership for us and we are glad to continue helping raise the awareness of how important it is to 'Give Blood'. Our rugby players are getting behind the Blood Service to help promote it to the people of Rhondda Cynon Taf - they have been excellent this season and whenever asked to help out, have stepped up in response.

The target age group for the campaign is young males, as there is a huge shortage of young male donors, so if you or your friends would like to donate and save lives, please contact the blood service as detailed below.

Commenting on the partnership Tracy Sampson, WBS Marketing Manager said:

They say that rugby is in our blood. With this in mind the Welsh Blood Service have once again joined forces with Pontypridd RFC for the 2008/09 season, with the aim to raise awareness of their life-saving work and encourage more people to become horizontal heroes and roll up their sleeves and donate blood. Please call 0800 252266 or check website www.welsh-blood.org.uk.

About the Welsh Blood Service
The Welsh Blood Service [WBS] covers South, West and part of Mid Wales. Within this area we collect voluntary, non-remunerated blood donations from the general public. These donations are processed and tested before distribution to hospitals where they support patient care. We also hold blood-derived products (both NHS and Commercial) for purchase by our customer hospitals.

We provide an antenatal screening service to several hospitals and offer all customer hospitals reference laboratory services to assist in the investigation of complex serological problems.

The Welsh Transplantation & Immunogenetics Laboratory, within the WBS, provides direct support to local providers of Renal and Stem Cell Transplant Services. It also operates a national panel of unrelated potential blood stem cell donors - the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

Medical Consultant support is provided to Hospital Blood Transfusion Committees which includes support in achieving the objectives of WHC(2002)137 – Better Blood Transfusion. Clinical advice is provided to customer hospitals as required.

We contribute to the maintenance of quality standards in the transfusion and transplantation community by hosting the UK NEQAS external quality assessment scheme for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics and the Welsh Assessment of Serological Proficiency scheme (WASPS).

The WBS is a division of Velindre NHS Trust. The Divisional Director is supported by a Senior Management Team which acts as the Executive for WBS, monitoring and controlling all major operational and financial issues. Performance Indicators for the WBS are set by the Blood Standards and Quality Group (chaired by the Chief Medical Officer).

We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of quality and effectiveness. We hold ISO 9001 and CPA accreditation and we are an Investor in People. The WBS is licensed and audited by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on a regular basis.

For further information on Pontypridd RFC, or to speak with our Sales and Marketing department regarding this, or any other sponsorship, please contact Gareth Howells:

• +44 (0) 7974 873683