Bill Brownrigg has potentially saved 261 lives through blood donation, but that has all come to an end.

The 60-year-old has haemachromatosis, a potentially life-threatening condition that requires him to give blood regularly.

But with the closure last month of the Geraldton Blood Donor Centre, doctors have no choice now but to throw Mr Brownrigg's blood away.

"It's fortunate my doctor bulk bills, so it isn't the cost or anything," the Woorree man said.

"It is the waste of seeing it thrown out."

Mr Brownrigg is one of the large number of Geraldton blood donors whose sacrifice has saved an estimated 5000 lives a year.

"How can you put a price on that?" he said.

Like Mr Brownrigg, about 60 people in Geraldton have a blood disorder which srequire regular therapeutic venesection to remove excess blood.

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service's WA donor services manager Cheryl Holland announced the centre's closure last month, after four decades of operation, in a letter circulated to donors and a press release.

In the release, Ms Holland said the decision was made because of difficulties attracting and retaining qualified staff.

She said it would have no impact on blood supplies to Geraldton, which were sourced from Perth.

The founder of Geraldton Blood Bank Centre, Barbara Allen, said she disputed that a lack of skilled staff led to the closure.

"I know there are nurses in Geraldton who would be willing to do it if they received training," she said.

"I find it incomprehensible that the Perth agency is crying out for donors and yet they close a centre in a city the size of Geraldton."

Mid West GP Network vice-chair Dr Ian Taylor said difficulties recruiting qualified staffing were not uncommon in rural areas, but "you don't close the courts, or hospitals".

"It's extremely disappointing," he said.

"I would have preferred more effort was made in training and retaining staff locally.

"It means there are now a lot of people in Geraldton who would like to give blood, but who can't."

Geraldton MP Ian Blayney said he had written to Health Minister Kim Hames, asking him to look at the possibility of sharing staff from the WA Country Health Service, or training staff, as a means of re-opening the service.

"We're a growing community so there's a strong case to be made for the centre to re-open," he said.

Up until the closure, Geraldton Senior College and Nagle Catholic College ranked highly among WA schools for blood donations.

Geraldton Senior topped the state for donations in the past five years.

Co-ordinator of the school's blood donation program, Wendy Sekuloff, said the blood donations had become a positive "rite of passage" for the students.

"The first year we had one Aboriginal student take part, but every year after that we had more and more Aboriginal students involved," she said.

"We had kids telling us they were waiting for the 16th birthday so they could donate - even kids who donated on their 16th birthday.

"It was an awesome program and we're pretty sad that it folded just like that."

Ms Sekuloff said the closure could also impact on organ donation, with many blood donors often signing up for the other program.

Batavia Coast Rotary Club secretary Tom Thuijs said the closure would impact on the number of lifetime donors in WA, with young people in Geraldton no longer having the option available to them.

"The blood service has lost a part of the population who would otherwise have given blood," he said.

Mr Thuijs said Rotary had contributed to establishing the blood service in WA and, more recently, the cord blood bank.

He said if the decision to close the Geraldton service was purely financial then his club would like to help to have it re-opened.