Blood donors in the north claim they have been told their donations are no longer needed after a service was pulled from the region.
Platelets, which are used to help cancer patients and premature babies, could previously be donated at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Now the service has been shut in the Highlands and people who wish to continue donating have been told to travel to hospitals more than 100 miles away, in Aberdeen or Dundee.
Warwick Gouge, from Forres, has been donating platelets in Inverness since his wife Karen died 13 years ago following a battle with cancer.
He said: “I wanted to do something to help and this seemed ideal. It’s very sad the service has stopped but what has annoyed me more is that platelets are now only being donated centrally.
“The other daft thing is that platelets that were taken in Inverness were sent south before being sent back up north again to be used by patients.”
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for NHS National Services Scotland, who run the Blood Bank, explained that platelets can only be collected in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen or Dundee due to the specialist staff and equipment required.
Platelets are one of the main components in blood and stop bruising and bleeding. Donations can take up to 90 minutes to complete because of the specialist equipment used.
Moray MP Douglas Ross has pressed for donation opportunities to be maximised across the country to ensure as many patients are helped as possible.
He said: “People previously gave up their time once a month to travel to Raigmore to donate these vital blood platelets.
“For someone living in Moray, a potential four-hour round trip to Aberdeen along with another hour donating is just not feasible, especially if they have to fit their time around work.
“These people have saved the lives of countless people through their donations over many years but because of these changes they will no longer be able to help.”
Lynne Willdigg, associate director for donor and transport services at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, said the service was “extremely grateful” for all donations from platelet and whole-blood donors across the north.
However, she explained an increased capacity in laboratories and a new method which uses platelets recovered from regular blood donations has allowed them to reduce the need for the “more invasive” technique.
She said: “Due to these changes we are nationally reducing the number of platelets collected from platelet-only donors across Scotland.
“The percentage reduction required to the Inverness platelet collection programme would have made it non-viable to keep the platelet programme operational.
“We apologise to the donors in Inverness who may be affected and thank them again for their support but we have a responsibility to ensure that NHS resources are used to the best to benefit patients across Scotland.”“
