‘Are you the Giving Type?’ public asked during National Blood Donor Week

People in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes have been asked ‘Are you the Giving Type?’ as part of a campaign to increase the number of blood donors.

This year the NHS needs 140,000 new blood donors to grow and diversify the base of donors, so that blood and blood products can continue to be supplied to hospitals.

Around 9,000 new plasma donors are also needed.  Plasma can be recovered from the blood and made into a medicine which treats more than 50 disorders such as Kawasaki disease and myasthenia gravis, helping to save even more lives.

And there’s a particular invitation to people of Black African and Black Caribbean heritage to save lives by giving blood, to help sickle cell patients who depend on regular transfusions of ethnically matched blood to stay alive.  The NHS needs 12,000 new donors of Black heritage this year. 

The number of regular blood donors of Black heritage reached an all-time high of almost 20,000 in the year to April 2023, while over 7,000 more gave blood for the first time – also a record. Both figures have doubled since 2017 when the NHS began appealing for Black heritage donors.

Dr Sanhita Chakrabarti, deputy medical director at Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB), said:

“Blood and plasma donations can be used for life-saving emergencies, such as surgery and childbirth, for life-enhancing treatments, and to combat illnesses such as cancers, sickle cell, immune disorders, genetic conditions and other rare diseases.

“You can sign up to become a blood donor today and book your first appointment via the GiveBloodNHS app or on the website at my.blood.co.uk.  If you can’t find an appointment straight away then please book for further in the future.  Your blood will still help to save lives then.

“There is a permanent blood donation venue at St George’s Square in Luton, and mobile sessions across the rest of our area, too.  You’re certain to find a venue near you.

“There are nearly 800,000 regular blood donors in England, but we still need more, to help save even more lives.  If you’re the giving type, why not join them?”