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
Ofcom says tech and social media platforms ‘must enforce’ their minimum age rules
Emily Sergeant
Ofcom has issued an urgent warning, calling on major sites and apps to enforce their minimum age rules with highly-effective age checks.
As it examines continued failings by these services, the online safety regulator says it has this week written to the major sites and apps that young people use the most – including Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube – requiring them to prove to parents a ‘genuine commitment’ to protecting children online.
Since the UK’s online safety laws came into force last year, Ofcom says it has been investigating nearly a hundred different services.
The regulator has taken enforcement action, secured changes to disrupt the sharing of child sexual abuse material, and seen high-risk services either get in line or block access to the UK altogether, as well as ensuring that millions of daily visits to porn sites now require highly effective age checks.
Major platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, Discord, and Reddit have also introduced age controls to prevent children accessing adult or harmful content.
Four ‘clear’ demands for further action have been set out by the regulator this week – effective minimum-age policies and reinforcement of these, strict child grooming protections, safer feeds and algorithms for children, and an end to product testing – particularly AI tools – on children.
Ofcom says tech and social media platforms ‘must enforce’ their minimum age rules / Credit: Robin Worrall (via Unsplash)
Ofcom says it has given the aforementioned platforms a deadline of 30 April to report back to it on the action they will take, and then the following month, the regulator will report on how the companies have responded and announce any next steps for regulatory action.
Speaking on the warning issued this week, Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, said: “These online services are household names, but they’re failing to put children’s safety at the heart of their products.
“There is a gap between what tech companies promise in private, and what they’re doing publicly to keep children safe on their platforms.
“Without the right protections, like effective age checks, children have been routinely exposed to risks they didn’t choose, on services they can’t realistically avoid. That must now change quickly, or Ofcom will act.”
Featured Image – Julian Christ (via Unsplash)
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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.”
Emily Sergeant -
29th July 2024 
