Public responds to NHS amber alert over donor blood stocks
The blood-donation service has been inundated with offers of help after putting out an alert, on Wednesday, warning NHS stocks were running critically low in England.
More than 10,000 appointments to donate blood over the next few weeks have been booked in the past 24 hours.
The NHS usually has six days' worth of blood to use for operations and transfusions but levels are currently due to fall below two.
Type-O blood is in particular demand. O positive is the most common and anyone can receive O negative in an emergency or if their blood type is unknown.
Blood supplies have been challenging since the Covid pandemic, because of staff shortages and sickness, and a change in people's behaviour means they are less likely to visit donation centres in towns and cities, according to NHSBT.
Individual hospitals must decide how to manage the shortage - for example, by postponing some non-urgent operations.
"This is an amazing response from the public and we have been reminded in the last 24 hours of the incredible goodwill and spirit of the public towards helping patients in times of great difficulty," an NHSBT official said.
Source: BBC News, 13 October 2022