Urgent appeal for blood donations as hospital stock levels low

An urgent appeal has been made for 2,000 additional blood donations to be made over the next four weeks as it has been disclosed that some blood groups have fallen below three days of stock in the national blood supply.

The director of donor services at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, Paul McKinney, said current stock levels “including those for O Negative and B Negative” were causing concern with only three days supply left and O Positive, the blood group of nearly half of Ireland’s total population, is down to just over two-and-a-half days.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service aims to have seven days’ supply at all times.

Stock management

“A stock management alert letter was issued to all hospitals on May 13, restricting issues and hospitals have been asked to reduce their stock holding,” said Mr McKinney.

“This enables the IBTS to manage the limited blood supply available more effectively across the health service.

“If the IBTS must issue an ‘amber alert letter’ which is the next escalation level of the blood shortage plan, it would have an immediate implication for hospitals and for elective surgical procedures requiring blood support.”

Demand 

Hospital demand for blood is reported to have been consistently high, particularly since the Easter and May bank holidays.

“The continued good weather has also impacted clinic attendances.

“We need to boost our collections by 500 donations per week across all blood groups to meet the consistently high demand.

“In addition, the start of the summer holiday travel period has also had an impact on donor availability.

“We are asking regular donors to make an extra effort to attend their nearest clinic (appointments available online), especially in Dublin and Cork where we have clinic availability every week.

“For the longer term, we would also urge donors to please consider giving blood if they are eligible before they go on holidays this summer.”

New donors are especially welcome and if you are considering giving blood you can check your eligibility on https://www.giveblood.ie/become-a-donor/ and call 1800 731137 to make an appointment to attend a clinic near you.

“We would particularly encourage new donors of African heritage to join the national blood donor panel to help us diversify the donor base and get better blood type matches for patients,” Mr McKinney added.