Donors urged to ‘keep up the momentum’ to help sustain blood stocks as NHS remains in Amber Alert

NHSBT blood donor centre sign The NHS is renewing its appeal to blood donors to book and keep appointments to donate over coming weeks and months as it remains under Amber Alert one month after stocks of blood dropped to critically low levels.

Thanks to an amazing response from donors and hospitals temporarily using less blood, stock levels have improved since NHS Blood and Transplant triggered Amber Alert for O type blood on 25 July 2024.

But once demand returns to normal levels, blood stocks could decline once again unless donors fill the thousands of empty slots currently still available at the 25 fixed donor centres in towns and cities across England.

While donor centres have been more than 90 percent full since Amber was declared, fill rates drop off sharply over the coming weeks. Centres are just 40 percent full in the middle of September and this drops to 21 percent by the end of October.

There are around 80,000 appointments still available to book between now and the end of October. The NHS urgently needs donors to fill these to ensure stock levels are sustainable.

Today stocks of O negative are at 7.8 days and overall stocks across all types is 8.6 days. This compares with 1.6 days for O negative and 4.3 for all types when Amber Alert was triggered. However, with a shelf life of just 35 days, these blood stocks must be constantly replenished.

Due to Amber Alert hospital demand has gone down by five percent for O type blood and three percent for all blood types. Meanwhile an extra 1,000 appointments a week have been added to boost collection.

What is an Amber Alert?

An Amber Alert is an important part of the NHS’s business continuity plan for blood stocks. It requires hospitals to restrict the use of O type blood to essential cases and use substitutions where it is clinically safe to do so.

NHS Blood and Transplant triggered Amber Alert for O negative and O positive type blood following a ‘perfect storm’ of increased hospital demand for O blood following the cyber attack on London hospitals in June, and reduced collections due to high levels of unfilled appointments at donor centres. This caused stocks to drop to unprecedently low levels.

What is O negative blood?

O negative is universal and can be given to anyone. It is used in emergencies or when a patient’s blood type is unknown. O positive is the most common blood type – 35 percent of donors have it – and can be given to anybody with a positive blood type. It can also be given to all men and women past childbearing age.

There is a particular need for more young donors to come forward, especially those with O negative blood type as well as more donors of Black heritage, to treat patients with sickle cell.

To register to donate and to book an appointment please visit our website, use the GiveBloodNHS app or call 0300 123 23 23.

Statements

Statement from Wendy Clark

Wendy Clark, NHS Blood and Transplant Deputy Chief Executive Officer said:

“We are enormously grateful to our amazing donors who have answered our call and filled up our sessions, and to all the hospitals that have supported us by reducing stock holding and orders.

“The recent increase in stock levels is encouraging but we need to be able to cope with hospitals going back to normal ordering once we come out of Amber. The Amber Alert can only be removed once we are confident that stocks have reached a strong and sustainable level.

“To achieve this we need donors to keep up the momentum. If you haven’t stepped forward yet, we need you to do so now or in the weeks ahead. Our fixed donor centres in towns and cities have thousands of unfilled appointments as we move into Autumn.

“Our mobile sessions held in community venues are almost full so if you can’t find a local appointment immediately that means other donors have already come forward. Please book in to the next available session. Blood is needed 24/7, 365 days a year.

“Thank you to everyone for their incredible support to ensure seriously ill patients continue to receive the lifesaving blood they need at this time.”