The Centre, Livingston is the first shopping centre in Scotland where visitors can donate blood while grabbing their weekly groceries.

The Centre has become home to a new state-of-the-art Blood Donor Centre, which is also the first one The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) has opened in the last 60 years which is not based in a city centre.

The SNBTS is aiming to collect 35 donations per day at their new site within the mall which will help to save or improve the lives of up to 2500 patients in Scotland every month.

Patrick Robbertze, Centre Director at The Centre said:

“It is located in an ideal position in the mall to help raise awareness about the importance of giving blood, with a great team who have a booking system in place to make it really easy for people to make their donations.

“The feedback already from visitors to the shopping centre, who can now shop, eat, play and donate – all in one day - has been fantastic!”

Vincent Mooney, SNBTS Head of Donor Services, Edinburgh and South East Scotland, added:

“I would like to extend my great thanks to everyone who has come forward and given blood at Livingston Donor Centre so far.

“It has proved to be a very popular donor centre, which is already making a valuable contribution to NHS Scotland. I’d also like to thank everyone at the mall who has made this possible.

“It is very important we continue to welcome donors, especially new donors and donors from the wider West Lothian area. Please do visit www.scotblood.co.uk to book your appointment, and we look forward to giving you a very warm welcome.”

The Blood Donor Centre is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm, Thursday 12noon - 3pm & 4pm - 7pm and Saturday 9am -12pm & 1pm – 4pm.

Booking appointments can be made at http://www.scotblood.co.uk or by phoning 0345 90 90 999.