NHS bosses say there's a need for 5,000 new blood donors in Newcastl e alone - and during National Blood Week they're desperate to encourage people from diverse backgrounds to give blood.
The awareness week - which runs from June 13 to June 19 - has seen a new five-year "blood service strategy" published. This lays out the scale of the challenge and an ambition to add a million people to the ranks of those who give blood within the next five years.
The NHS Blood and Transplant also wants to double the number of donors who have the rarest blood types - it's especially urgent for more Black African and Black Caribbean people to come forward, as there are shortages of blood from people with the blood subtype Ro. Blood transfusions of that subtype are required to treat the life-threatening condition sickle cell, which mostly affects people of Black heritage.
Stephen Cornes, director of blood supply at NHSBT, said: "Currently we can only meet around half of the demand for R o blood through our existing donor base and demand for this rare blood type is rising. This means many sickle cell patients often receive less well-matched blood which, while clinically suitable, can pose a longer-term risk to patients who receive regular transfusions.
"We urgently need new Black African and Black Caribbean donors to come forward and donate blood. In addition to the rarest blood types, we also need 1 million new donors over the next five years of all blood types. As the NHS treats more patients, we need to grow the total number of donors too."
Mr Cornes said that if regular donors could not get an appointment that was because stocks of their blood type were high, and for people to try again soon or respond when asked by the service.
Blood donation usually takes around an hour - once donated blood is divided into platelets, red cells and plasma - and this has a range of uses including helping to treat cancer and saving lives during surgery.
Another big supporter of blood donation is Scarlette Douglas - who stars in A Place in the Sun on Channel 4. Her brother is among the thousands to have benefitted from blood donation - he was given 48 units of blood after being stabbed while disturbing a burglar.
Scarlette herself has the rare R o blood type. She said: "Blood donors saved my brother’s life but blood will only be there in the future if young people of every heritage sign up as the next generation of donors. Finding matching blood for people of black heritage is particularly hard, so more black donors are urgently needed."
Dr Bola Owolabi, NHS England's director for health inequalities, said: "A shortage of blood donation from people of a Black heritage often means that some patients don’t receive the best blood-type match and are therefore at risk of serious complications." She said she "would urge anyone" to come forward as soon as possible.
To find out about giving blood or register - visit blood.co.uk, download the GiveBloodNHS app or call 0300 123 23 23.
READ NEXT:
