People urged to give blood as NHS declares national shortage ‘amber alert’

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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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.”

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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)