Urgent appeal for blood donations this Easter

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of NHS Blood and Transplant, we request your support in promoting an urgent appeal to encourage NHS colleagues to give blood ahead of the Easter period.

Recent bad weather led to the cancellation of some blood donation sessions and between 6-7,000 units of blood were lost as a result. This could take weeks to recover.

Blood stocks are currently at urgently low levels and there are still appointments to fill at our 23 city and town based permanent Donor Centres to ensure blood stocks don’t drop further before Easter. Current stocks of Group O (the universal blood type used in emergencies), Group B, and A positive blood are particularly low at the moment.

A request is being made across the NHS for those who can give blood to book an appointment at a Donor Centre in the run up to Easter. The additional appointments are only available in certain static locations so please have a look and if one is not near you then please book an appointment for a later date. We hope you can support us in this task by cascading this email to your wider teams and organisation where appropriate.

To give blood, colleagues can make an appointment by calling the Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23 or visiting www.blood.co.uk 

Many thanks in advance,

Public Health England Marketing Partnerships Team