The NHS has issued an urgent plea for blood donors after warning national supplies are set to run out within hours. Doctors urged people with O-type blood to donate, with national stocks of O-Negative projected to run out by Saturday. The health service said it has less than 5 days stock of all types of blood in what it described as an “unprecedented” shortage.
They called on people with the universal blood group O-negative, as well as O-positive donors, to urgently book into donor centres. Just 8 per cent of the population have type O-Negative but it makes up for around 16 per cent of hospital orders, according to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). The health service said it was facing a “perfect storm” after a cyber attack impacted London hospitals in June.
The incident resulted in stocks of blood falling, as many appointments went unfilled at blood donation centres across towns and city centres leading to reduced collections. Dr Gail Miflin NHSBT’s chief medical officer said: “Three blood donations are needed every minute in hospitals to deal with emergencies, childbirth and routine treatments. “Blood only has a shelf life of 35 days so the NHS needs blood all year round.
“There are just under 800,000 regular blood donors, 108,000 of whom are O Negative. Ultimately, we need more people to be regular blood donors and come to one of our 25 donor centres.” The NHS said there are currently around 12,000 appointments for donors in the next fortnight that have y.