BLOOD donation sessions in parts of South East Cornwall will no longer be held.

The Give Blood events in Callington and in Torpoint are among a long list of community venues to be axed from the list of mobile sessions, which take place two to three times a year.

NHS Blood and Transplant says that while blood donors are always still needed, the total volume of blood required by hospitals is reducing by three to four percent each year, as medical practice and surgical procedures improve.

The organisation says it needs to make sure the right amount and type of blood is collected to meet the specific demand in each region.

The shelf life of donated blood is around 35 days, says the NHS.

A spokesperson said: ‘We understand it can be difficult when people can longer donate near to them.

‘We appreciate that if we do make any changes, it may be too difficult for many people in the more rural areas to travel to an alternative session and we thank them for the lives they have already saved

‘Our focus is on what the patients need, and we don’t want to waste blood.’

The NHS says is still actively appealing for blood donation as it needs 200,000 new donors a year to replace those who cannot give for health or other reasons.

‘The reason we are considering closing some sessions is that currently they are smaller six-chair session that can only accommodate a limited number of donors and therefore, we cannot collect blood as efficiently as we can in our nine-chair sessions where we can accommodate more donors in one go,’ the spokesperson continued.

‘Also the blood mix of the country has changed and we need more people from different ethnic backgrounds with rarer blood types and specific antibodies, so we need to be smarter in when and where we collect blood.’

Permanent blood donation centres are open most days in larger towns and cities including in Plymouth.

In South East Cornwall, community blood donation sessions will continue in Saltash and in Pensilva.