Wolverhampton teenager is shown around labs as part of Harvey's Gang initiative

The scheme known as Harvey's Gang – named after eight-year-old boy Harvey Buster Baldwin who died in 2014 – aims to show youngsters the process.

It was sparked when the youngster from West Sussex was treated for acute myeloid leukaemia and visited the laboratories to see the journey his blood made.

And now it has been rolled out in the Black Country, with 15-year-old Samuel Lade becoming the first in the area to join Harvey's Gang and visit the labs.

The youngster from Wolverhampton, who has sickle cell anaemia and requires monthly blood transfusions, was shown the service based at New Cross Hospital.

The hospital houses BCPS – the four pathology laboratories in the Black Country used by The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

Mary Blanton, transfusion practitioner at BCPS, organised the tour for the 15-year-old who was greeted by members of the laboratory team and presented with a goody bag and a lab coat to wear.

He was shown the Blood Sciences labs, comprising Clinical Chemistry, Haematology and Blood Bank, plus Histopathology and saw the analysers which run the blood groups and antibody screens, and he performed a manual blood group to see what his group would look like on the analysers.

He also witnessed a blood film of a sickle cell anaemia patient to see what his blood would look like under the microscope. And in Histopathology, he saw a demonstration of how the tissue is received into the lab, before he was shown how it is processed in the lab to produce a slide, which can be reviewed by the pathologist to provide a report on what the tissue shows.

Steven Schnabel, biomedical scientist in clinical chemistry, showed the youngster the chemistry lab and explained why certain tubes are used – before the 15-year-old went on to see the machine that validates his blood results.

Mr Schnabel said: "Samuel was very excited and interested – initially I think he was a bit overwhelmed, but he soon opened up much more to us.

“His sister was very impressed; I think overall they thoroughly enjoyed the hours they had in the lab.”

Roxanna Richardson, biomedical scientist, added: “We see patients’ names, their blood and their diagnosis but we don’t know them, so it’s great to put a face to the name.

“Samuel really enjoyed his time in the labs, and so did we. He got really involved and asked plenty of questions.”

Samuel, who moved to Wolverhampton from Nigeria in 2010 and attends Penn Fields School, was delighted at the tour.

He said: “I really enjoyed it. I was shown around the labs and taught what happens to my blood, as well as what blood group I have.

“It helped me learn more about my blood and the journey it takes, so it was really helpful.

“I also saw fungus growing on the lungs under the microscope when I visited the histology lab, which I thought looked very cool.”