Porirua residents will be able to donate plasma in their own city for the first time when a new permanent Blood and Plasma Donor Centre opens on Monday.
New Zealand Blood Service will open the centre at 3 Heriot Drive, Todd Park, behind the Porirua Shopping Centre, from noon on 5 October.
It will be the Wellington region’s second permanent donor centre, joining the existing Newtown facility.
The Porirua centre will operate five days a week, with around 215 plasma donation appointments and 75 whole-blood appointments available each week.
Up to 25 local, regional and national New Zealand Blood Service staff will be based at the facility.
Donor Relations Team Leader Sarah Field said Porirua’s mobile blood drives had received strong support over many years.
“We’re incredibly excited to be opening our doors in Porirua. Our mobile blood drives in the city have always been really well supported, so we already know there’s a fantastic community of donors here who want to help others.”
The permanent centre means donors will no longer have to wait for mobile blood drives, while plasma donation will become available locally for the first time.
Demand for plasma is growing by around 10% a year.
“And for the first time, people can donate plasma right here in Porirua. Demand for plasma is growing by around 10% year on year, so having donor centres like this, with dedicated capacity for plasma donation, is increasingly important,” Field said.
Plasma makes up more than half of blood and is used to produce up to 11 life-saving products.
Between July 2025 and July 2026, plasma-derived medicines were used to treat nearly 20,000 New Zealanders.
Unlike whole blood donations, plasma can be donated as often as every two weeks because red blood cells and platelets are returned to the donor during the process.
Around 90,000 people live within a 15-minute drive of the new centre, which has 20 dedicated donor car parks.
The centre will open from 7.15am to 3pm on Mondays and Fridays and from noon to 8pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
A blessing for the new facility will be held on Monday morning before it opens to the public.