Donor Carer

NHS Blood and Transplant; Exeter; On-site; GBP 21,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

6-week training period

Flexible working options

Generous annual leave

Inclusive pension scheme

Health and wellbeing support

Thrive learning culture

Job summary

NHS Blood and Transplant is recruiting a Donor Carer to support donors across sessions in a mobile team, ensuring a safe, positive and caring donation experience. You will receive comprehensive training in donor health screening, venepuncture and donor care while travelling between venues and collaborating with healthcare professionals.

Shift patterns include early and late slots, six days per fortnight, with no night shifts; flexibility and commitment to quality, safety and customer service are

Qualifications

• Experience dealing with the public.
• Experience delivering quality customer service.
• Willing to learn digital skills and undergo training.

Responsibilities

• Load, unload, assemble and dismantle equipment for sessions.
• Transport vehicles as required and ensure safe handling of equipment.
• Develop practical healthcare skills including donor health screening and venepuncture.
• Maintain accurate donor records and support safe transport of blood products.
• Travel to donation venues and help set up, run and pack down sessions.

Skills

Customer service

Public interaction

Digital literacy training

Education

Full UK Driving Licence (Manual)

Job description

Donor Carer

This role is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship. Please do not apply unless you have another means of establishing a right to work.

Job Summary

It takes all types of people to help save and improve lives. As a Donor Carer with NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), you’ll play a vital role in supporting blood donors throughout their donation journey. Working as part of a skilled and supportive mobile team, you’ll help create a safe, positive and caring experience for donors while contributing to the collection of lifesaving blood products. You’ll receive comprehensive training to develop practical healthcare skills, including donor screening, venepuncture and donor care. Every day is different as you travel to donor sessions, work alongside healthcare professionals and help ensure the highest standards of quality, safety and donor experience. This is an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution, learn valuable clinical skills and build a rewarding career in a unique NHS organisation

The role involves working a variety of hours, including evenings, weekends, and bank holidays — but no night shifts!

You will be working on a shift basis but, the normal hours for this role are 6 days per fortnight. Early shifts start at 07:45 and finish 17:30. Late shifts start at 10:00 and finish 21:00, this will be 9.375 hour days. As the service predominantly operates on late shifts, the successful candidate will be expected to work these shifts on a regular basis.

Main duties of the job

• Loading, unloading, assembling and dismantling equipment to setup and prepare our blood donation session.
• Driving a 7.5 tonne van and 15-seater minibus as and when required (training and assessment will be provided).
• Learn and develop practical healthcare skills, including donor health screening, venepuncture and post-donation care.
• Work as part of a close-knit multidisciplinary team committed to delivering high-quality donor care and service excellence.
• Maintain accurate donor records and support the safe handling, reconciliation and transportation of blood products and samples.
• Encourage donors to return and continue making a lifesaving difference through regular donation appointments.
• Contribute to maintaining high standards of quality, safety, infection prevention and regulatory compliance.
• Support continuous improvement by contributing ideas, embracing new ways of working and participating in training and development opportunities.
• Travel to different donation venues and help set up, operate and pack down equipment to ensure sessions run smoothly and efficiently.

About You

Experience and Knowledge

• Have experience of dealing with the public.
• Have experience of delivering a quality customer service.
• Be willing to learn new technology skills and undergo digital training.

Qualifications and Training

• Have a good standard of numeracy and literacy.
• Be willing to undertake development and training to upskill yourself including completion of the Skills for Health Care Certificate.
• Hold a valid full UK Driving Licence (Manual) with no more than 6 penalty points (provisional licences will not be accepted)

About Us

It takes all types of people to deliver the kind of service that saves and improves lives. At NHS Blood and Transplant, you’ll join a team of more than 6,000 people who are making a genuine difference to communities, families, friends, relatives and more across the UK. We play a unique and special role in the NHS by helping people do something extraordinary- donate blood, blood products, organs, tissues, or stem cells to save someone in need.

Our three core values are what set us apart. They guide and inspire everything we do.

By being caring, expertly meeting the needs of our patients and our people, and accepting nothing less than the best quality, we can do extraordinary work – and help our people to do something extraordinary in their career, too. Three small words, one big difference - Caring, Expert and Quality. Together we'll save and improve more lives than ever.

You will join us on our journey to create an inclusive workplace and aim to reflect the diverse communities we work with, and we positively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.

What we offer:

• 6-week training period to fully prepare you for your career with us
• Rotas published 6 weeks ahead of time.
• No night shifts.
• Payments for unsociable hours, overtime, meal and driving allowances where applicable.
• Flexible working options – we promote flexible working where the role allows. We’re happy to discuss what flexibility might look like for you.
• Generous annual leave - 27 days annual leave (pro rata for part-time) plus Bank Holidays, increasing to 29 days after 5 years’ service and to 33 days after 10 years.
• Inclusive pension scheme - the NHS Pension Scheme is a defined benefit scheme (not dependent on investment returns). Further details and outline of benefits can be found at: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/information-about-nhs-pensions
• Supportive learning culture - we’ve fostered a culture of continuous learning where colleagues are well-led, engaged, and encouraged to grow. We support you in reaching your full potential, both in your current role and future career. Our Thrive program embodies our commitment to learning and development, offering a wide range of activities to support your personal and professional growth. It’s open to everyone at NHSBT, ensuring you have the resources to succeed and shine in your role.
• Health and wellbeing support – we offer confidential services including occupational health, employee assistance programme, and wellbeing resources. Our support is available to all colleagues and we endevour to provide tailored workplace adjustments where possible.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applications from disabled candidates. We will talk with you to explore any adjustments that may help you during the recruitment process.

You can find more information about accessibility, our culture, and how we support applicants on the NHSBT Careers website:

• Read about our application process
• Learn more about our culture at NHSBT

Next steps

This vacancy will close at 23:59 on Sunday, 11th October 2026.

You will be invited to complete an assessment following your application. You must complete the assessment sent to you by email from @ArcticShores.com. The deadline for this assessment is 4 days after your application is submitted. It will take an average of 35-40 minutes. Please check your junk email box if needed. When you complete the Donor Carer assessment, the result will be used for any future applications made within 12 months. Therefore, please complete your assessment before applying for any other Donor Carer vacancies. If you have previously completed the assessment, you will not need to complete another one.

For further information, please visit Candidate Support – Arctic Shores

If you’re shortlisted, we’ll invite you to see the role for yourself by visiting a blood collection session, followed by a face-to-face interview. Unfortunately we’re unable to offer virtual options, and travel expenses aren’t covered.

The session visit and interview are planned for 23rd October 2026 – subject to confirmation.

For informal enquiries please contact –

Michaela Clarke, Senior Sister, [e-mail]