O positive and O negative donors asked to urgently book appointment to give blood following London hospitals IT incident
Visit blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23
NHS Blood and Transplant is calling for O Positive and O Negative blood donors to urgently donate blood as healthcare providers in south east London continue to experience disruption to services following a cyber incident.
The NHS is advising patients in south east London who need urgent medical care to continue to come forward as normal.
The IT incident affecting a pathology provider means the affected hospitals cannot currently match patients’ blood at the same frequency as usual.
For surgeries and procedures requiring blood to take place, hospitals need to use O type blood as this is safe to use for all patients.
That means more units of these types of blood than usual will be required over the coming weeks to support the wider efforts of frontline staff to keep services running safely for local patients.
Give Blood 'National Blood Week' is June 10-16
Did you know three blood donations are needed every minute in hospitals to deal with emergencies, childbirth and routine treatments as it calls on more people to become lifesaving donors?
The call to donate blood falls in this year's National Blood Week, (10 – 16 June), featuring a big push for new donors ahead of summer and urging the nation’s giving types to book an appointment to save lives.
There are around 13,000 appointments available nationally this week in NHS Blood Donor Centres with 3,400 available in London alone.
