Urgent plea to North East’s ‘missing’ O negative donors to help struggling blood stocks

• NHS plea to find almost 2,500 ‘missing’ O neg donors in the region who haven’t donated in the past year
• New NHS tracker shows daily appointment slots in donor centres to make on the day booking easier than ever
• Four bank holidays and two school breaks in just six weeks have led to critically low blood stocks
• O negative blood can be given to anyone – making it vital in emergencies

Thousands of ‘missing’ blood donors across the North East are being urgently called on as the NHS warns that supplies of O negative are critically low.

NHS Blood and Transplant has revealed there are 2,420 donors in the region with the vital O negative blood type whose last donation was more than 12 months ago.

It is calling on these donors to come forward urgently to help the NHS in England rebuild supplies after a combination of factors have left this crucial blood type under particular pressure.

Four bank holidays, the Easter holidays and half term break all falling within a six-week period have made maintaining steady stocks particularly challenging. Blood donations often drop over bank holiday weekends and holiday periods when people are busy and forget to donate.

England remains in Amber alert for low stocks of O type blood and it is critical that enough donors come forward now to stabilise supplies and ensure patients receive the treatments they need.

Gerry Gogarty, Director of Blood Supply for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “Our ‘missing’ O negative donors in the North East have the power to relieve the pressure on supplies of this vital blood type.

“If you are O negative and haven’t given blood in a while, please book an appointment to donate today. Don’t hesitate – patients need you now.

“Our fixed donor centres generally have the best availability. If you can’t find an appointment straight away please book further ahead or keep checking back to help fill last minute appointments or cancellations. Every donation makes a critical difference.”

While community donation sessions in places like church halls are generally well filled, permanent donor centres like the one in Newcastle city centre have good availability. Donors are especially needed to fill slots during the quieter weekday morning and afternoon sessions.

Daily appointment availability for donor centres with more than 10 slots that day is now published each morning at donor centre appointment tracker to make it easier for donors to book an immediate appointment.

O negative is the universal type that can be given safely given to anyone, making it a lifeline in emergencies. Just eight per cent of the population have O negative blood but it makes up around 16 per cent of hospital orders.

Hospitals across England need more than 5,000 blood donations every day to ensure they have the blood they need to treat patients for a wide variety of reasons, including traumatic injuries or accidents, cancer treatments, sickle cell and childbirth. However, blood has a shelf life of 35 days so it is vital stocks are constantly replenished.

Donating a unit of blood takes just an hour and each donation can save up to three lives. Men can give blood every three months and women every four months.

Book an appointment today at www.blood.co.uk, use the GiveBlood app or call 0300 123 23 23.

About Amber alert

NHSBT issued an Amber Alert in July, which remains in place, due to a severe shortage of O negative blood triggered by the cyber-attack on London hospitals last year. The attack meant major London hospitals couldn’t cross match blood so the hospitals could only use O negative.

An Amber Alert is an important part of the NHS’s business continuity plan for blood stocks. It triggers hospitals being able to:

• implement their emergency measures to minimise usage;
• move staff to laboratories to vet the use of all O type blood; and use patient blood managements systems to minimise use of O type blood.

About NHS Blood and Transplant

• NHS Blood and Transplant is a joint England and Wales Special Health Authority. We provide the blood donation service for England and the organ donation service for the UK. We also provide donated tissues, stem cells and cord blood. We are an essential part of the NHS, saving and improving lives through public donation.
• It is quick and easy to book an appointment to give blood. Call 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.blood.co.uk
• NHSBT has 27permanent donor centres in London (Brixton, Tooting, Edgware, West End, Shepherd’s Bush, Stratford and Twickenham) Manchester (Plymouth Grove and Norfolk House), Cambridge, Luton, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leicester, Bradford, Leeds, Newcastle, Lancaster, Liverpool, Stoke, Birmingham, Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford, Southampton, Poole and Plymouth. Our mobile teams also collect blood at community venues such as church halls around the country.
• NHS Blood and Transplant needs to collect 1.45 million units of blood each year to meet the needs of patients across England.
• There are four main blood groups – O, A, B and AB. O negative (the universal blood group) and B negative are particularly vulnerable to shortfalls. So, we want people with those blood groups to donate as regularly as they can.
• The NHS needs up to 200,000 new blood donors each year to replace those who stop donating and to ensure we have the right mix of blood groups to match patient needs in the future
• We urgently need more Black heritage donors as they are more likely to have the blood type needed to treat the increasing number of patients suffering from sickle cell disease.
• There is an urgent need for donors with Ro blood. Only 2% of our donors have Ro type blood. Collecting enough is a constant challenge. Ro is often used to save people with the rare blood disorder, sickle cell disease. Ro blood is ten times more common in black people than in white people.

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Image: Donor Centre Sign, image provided by NHSBT.nhs.uk