Here’s your guide to donating blood and locating the nearest donor center.
You have the option to donate blood, plasma, or platelets.
Before you proceed, it’s important to verify your eligibility.
Once you’ve confirmed that you meet the necessary criteria, you can easily locate a donor center close to you and schedule an appointment.
The process of donating blood itself takes about 10 minutes, although you should plan for a total appointment time of approximately one hour.
If you choose to donate plasma, anticipate a donation time of around 45 minutes, with the entire appointment lasting about 90 minutes. Donating platelets requires a bit more time, with the donation taking about an hour and the total appointment extending to two hours.
Donating plasma takes around 45 minutes with a total appointment time of 90 minutes, whilst donating platelets takes around an hour, with a total appointment time of two hours.
Once you have checked your eligibility, you can find your nearest donor centre and book an appointment.
To donate blood, it takes around 10 minutes to donate with an appointment time of an hour.
Donating plasma takes around 45 minutes with a total appointment time of one and a half hours, whilst donating platelets takes around an hour, with a total appointment time of two hours.
How to find if I am eligible to donate blood
If you have recently had the COVID-19 vaccine, you must wait three days before you can donate blood.
There are some restrictions on what you can donate based on your recent sexual activity.
For example, if you have had oral or anal sex with a man in the last three months, you can only donate plasma.
If you are a sex worker or have had sex with a sex worker in the last three months, you are also only able to donate plasma, and not blood or platelets.
If you have had sexual activity in the last three months with someone who has had HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C or human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) infection, you cannot donate plasma, blood or platelets.
Your eligibility will also be impacted based on your recent travel history.
Where to donate blood; list of donation centres
There are donation centres across Sydney and New South Wales.
For people under 25 years old, you can contact Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800. Both of these are available on a 24/7 basis.
If you wish to donate blood, you can find your nearest donor centre
here.
