A team from the Royal Veterinary College’s Queen Mother Hospital for Animals are taking part in the Fright Hike 2014 30k walk in Epping Forest on Saturday 1^st November. We are raising money for the Royal Veterinary College Animal Care Trust to go towards the QMHA’s Blood Transfusion Service, to help fund vital equipment such as a new Cell Saver machine which costs £10,000.

If the challenge of setting off at dusk to walk 30k in the pitch black of Epping Forest around Halloween isn’t enough to make the hairs on the back of our necks stand up we will also be looking scarier than normal in our customised scrubs! The team members that are taking part are: Helene Baker, Kelsey Bilan, Jago Jackson, David Connolly, Angela Collins, Vicki Watts, Izzy Hamer, Jackie Sharp,Lisa Lines and Jordan Scott.

The QMHA’s pioneering blood donor programme helps to keep thousands of critically ill animals alive every year. Cutting edge surgeries are performed involving the heart, brain and joint replacements. Many of these treatments rely on the transfusion service for donated blood.

 With more than 450 blood transfusions carried out in our hospitals each year, more than any other animal hospital in Europe, there is a high demand for blood products within our clinical teams. We have to source our own blood as the only commercial supplier in the UK is unable to meet our high demand. We are only able to do this thanks to the generosity of dog and cat owners whose animals donate blood on a voluntary basis. All our donors go through a rigorous screening process where we ensure that they would not be distressed by donation and also that they are healthy. Our donors are given full health checks before donations and a full blood screening is performed annually free of charge.

Due to ethical considerations we do not make any profit from our blood transfusion service. This means we are dependent on our supporters in order to grow and develop the service further. We also rely on donated used equipment from NHS hospitals, however this is reaching the end of its useful life and the maintenance of this equipment has proved costly. We have reached a critical point in the development of the service where we need to increase our capacity in the form of developing a cohesive Transfusion Medicine Service, invest in new equipment and ensure our priceless donors continue to be well looked after and properly appreciated.