A WHETSTONE woman has said she was left feeling ”humiliated” by her treatment after being hurt while donating blood in Southgate.

Jade Hiscox was left with severe bruising after, she says, a technician botched her donation at St Andrew's Church Hall on Saturday, April 17.

The unemployed 20-year-old claims the technician took several attempts to find a vein with the needle, and when blood finally started coming out was told it was happening “very slowly”.

She said: “He was faffing around and it didn't make me feel confident in him the amount of times he tried to put the needle in. It was very painful.

“Eventually it went in at an odd angle and blood started coming out, but he seemed disappointed it was coming so slowly.

“Then another nurse came over and started fiddling with it, and put it in again. Then the blood was coming out too quickly. It was already quite sore at this point.”

After the session she returned to her flat in Oakleigh Road North, but her left arm swelled up and that evening her mother took her the A&E department at Barnet Hospital.

Miss Hiscox said: “It was really sore by this point and very black around the elbow. At the hospital they told me I had a haematoma and gave me a sling and told me to rest it.

“I felt pretty bad, so I phoned the clinic the next day to tell them what had happened and it felt like they were mocking me. The nurse I spoke to asked which arm it was, then asked if I was left or right handed.

“When I told her I was right handed she said 'Well that's not so bad then is it, what are you complaining for'.”

It was the second time Miss Hiscox has given blood, but she said: “It's absolutely put me off giving blood ever again. If they had handled the situation better I may have thought about it.

“They're always appealing for more blood donors so I thought they would be understanding to make people like me want to do it again.”

She said a week after giving blood she was still in a lot of discomfort from the bruising.

A statement from the NHS Blood and Transplant Service said an investigation into the complaint was “already underway”.

It added: “We strive to ensure that all blood donors receive the highest level of care and continue to donate life saving blood.  “We would like to reassure donors that occurrences of post donation bruising to this level are very rare, and the vast majority of donors give blood without incident."