Blood donors will be increasingly cared for by assistants without nursing qualifications under controversial changes being carried out by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service that have sparked concerns about quality of care.

Nursing assistants who receive significantly less training and payment than university-trained registered nurses have this year started putting needles into donors, administering intravenous drugs and monitoring people for adverse reactions at Victorian, Tasmanian and Queensland collection centres.

Secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, Lisa Fitzpatrick, said she was concerned about how this would impact on the safety of donors and the mix of nurses and assistants caring for them.

While the Blood Service insists that registered nurses will still be caring for donors and overseeing their treatment, Ms Fitzpatrick said the service's management had been "dismissive" of the qualifications of registered nurses and enrolled nurses who generally receive three years and 18 months' training respectively.

"We view the blood service as a vital part of the health care services. Unfortunately, the Blood Service has described itself to us as more akin to a manufacturing plant. We consider this to be alarming," she said.