People in Greater Manchester with the most common UK blood group are being urged to come forward and donate.
The NHS says blood stocks have dropped to “unprecedentedly low levels”.
The health service says that a “perfect storm” of both an increased demand of O-type blood at hospitals nationwide, following the recent cyber attack a couple of weeks back, and reduced collections due what it’s referred to as “high levels of unfilled appointments” at donor centres, is to blame for plummeting stock.
Because of this, the NHS Blood and Transplant has written to hospitals across the UK today to issue an ‘Amber Alert’ asking them to restrict the use of O-type blood to “essential cases” only, and to use substitutions where it’s clinically safe to do so.
🩸 Blood shortage Amber alert 🩸 The @NHS urgently needs O type blood. There are over 12000 appointments available over the next 2 weeks that we need your help to fill.
An ‘Amber Alert’ 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 also use patient blood management systems to minimise use of O-type blood.
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The NHS understands that national alerts can be a cause of concern, but it this case, it says the ‘Amber Alert’ forms an important part of the NHS’s “business continuity plan” for blood stocks.
O negative and O positive donors are also being asked to urgently book and fill appointments at donor centres.
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On average, there are around 50,000 blood donor appointments to fill each week, and more than 12,000 appointments still to fill in donor centres over the next two weeks.
Hospitals will continue to carry out urgent, emergency or trauma surgery, cancer surgery, transplant surgery, and blood transfusions to treat people with long term conditions – but, the NHS has revealed that to supply the nation’s hospitals with the 1.5 million units of blood they need to treat patients, appointments need to be close to fully booked all year round.
Donors are being urged to give blood as the NHS declares a national shortage ‘amber alert’/ Credit: NHSBT| Los Muertos Crew (via Pexels)
“We urgently need more O group donors to come forward and help boost stocks to treat patients needing treatment,” commented Dr Jo Farrar, who is the NHSBT’s Chief Executive, as the ‘Amber Alert’ was issued.
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“Last month, we saw an incredible response from donors who answered our call and filled up our centres, helping us meet the increased demands for blood throughout June.
“However, seven weeks on, the need for O-negative blood, in particular, remains critical.
“We’re making an additional 1000 appointments per week available, so please take a moment to go online and book.”
You can find out more and book a blood donor appointment either on the NHSBT website here, on the GiveBloodNHS app, or by calling 0300 123 23 23.
Featured Image – NHS Blood Donation (via Facebook)
News
Derelict Manchester office block to become ‘vital’ accommodation for homeless families
Emily Sergeant
A derelict former office block in Manchester is set to become vital accommodation for homeless families in the region.
Manchester City Council has announced that, subject to planning approval, new temporary accommodation for dozens of homeless families will be created on the site of a derelict former office block in south Manchester, off Nell Lane in Chorlton.
The Council acquired the 1.1 acre site last month with the support of the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund.
The initiative – which is part of wider plans to boost the city’s stock of quality temporary accommodation – will see self-contained two-bedroom accommodation created for around 55 homeless families built where former NHS offices, Mauldeth House, currently stand.
Mauldeth House has been empty for several years now at this point, and had become somewhat of a ‘blight’ on the neighbourhood, attracting anti-social behaviour along the way and being targeted by squatters – but with the plans for the new accommodation, this could change for the better.
The site, and therefore the new accommodation, is said to be ‘ideally located’ for families, as it’s close to shops, schools, public transport, leisure facilities, and Chorlton Park.
The new accommodation will see families supported by a specialist team based on site to help them move on as quickly as possible into permanent settled tenancies, which is, of course, the long-term goal for many.
The Mauldeth House initiative is cited as being one example of the Council’s drive to increase its temporary accommodation stock across the city to reduce the number of out-of-area placements.
Other successful examples of this initiative include Mariana House in Whalley Range, and The Poplars in Rusholme.
It also comes after it was announced last month that homeless children in Greater Manchester, particularly those who are placed in temporary accommodation out of area for their school, will now get free bus travel to and from school.
“Mauldeth House is a great example of how we can put derelict properties to good use to benefit those experiencing homelessness, as well as making our neighbourhood look better,” explained Deputy Council Leader, Cllr Joanna Midgley.
“We are tackling homelessness on many fronts, the most important one being prevention, but we also need an increased supply of good quality temporary accommodation within the city so that if people do become homeless they are not uprooted from their social support networks.
“One of the ways we are doing this is through the innovative use of existing sites whether they are council owned or we are able to acquire them, as in the case of Mauldeth House.”
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
News
Bolton woman who falsely accused 10 men of raping her has been jailed
Emily Sergeant
A woman from Bolton who falsely accused 10 different men of raping her over a six-year period has now been jailed.
Stacey Sharples, 31 from Farnworth in Bolton, pleaded guilty of 10 counts of perverting the course of justice in relation to reports against 10 separate men at Bolton Crown Court earlier last month (2 February 2026), before appearing in court again this week to be sentenced.
The investigation into Sharples was launched after the arrests and questioning of almost all these men, and following the pursuing of all relevant lines of enquiry, which consistently revealed evidence contrary to what had been disclosed by Sharples.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says investigations of this nature are ‘extremely rare’ and the decision to pursue Sharples as a suspect was ‘not one taken lightly’.
“However, it is our duty to act in the public interest and on the evidence and information we uncover and receive, which in this case demonstrated a continuous, wilful making of false allegations, knowing full well the consequences for each of the men involved,” GMP said in a statement following Sharples’ sentencing.
Of the allegations Sharples pleaded guilty to – of which were made over a six-year period between 2013 and 2019 – most of the men were arrested and spent time in custody, with some also undertaking intimate examinations, and almost all spending periods of time on police bail or released under investigation.
Statements from the men accused by Stacey Sharples / Credit: GMP
GMP says there’s ‘no doubt’ the reports and arrests have had an impact on these men, their sense of self and relationships, their wider networks, and how they move forward with their lives.
False accounts also undermine those who have genuinely experienced sexual violence.
Police say it also affects the confidence in the criminal justice system, and that the time spent investigating Sharples’ reports could have been put towards investigating ‘genuine reports of sexual offences’ instead.
Sharples has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison this week after pleading guilty to making false rape allegations.
Speaking following Sharples’ sentencing this week, Detective Sergeant Steven Gilliland, who investigated this case, said: “We took the allegations made by Stacey Sharples seriously, explored all lines of enquiry and swiftly made arrests or interviewed of all the men she accused.
“We gave her multiple opportunities to provide further explanation or information to us, after interviews with the men and subsequent evidence uncovered didn’t align with her first recollection, as we understand that trauma can impact how victims and survivors recount their experiences.
“Ultimately, as the evidence continued to demonstrate that the reports were untrue, coupled with the desire for justice from some of the men who had been falsely accused, it was right that we followed the evidence and pursued the individual who had actually committed a criminal offence.”
Emily Sergeant -
29th July 2024 
