Understand
NHS targets students to recruit a new generation of blood donors
Overview
The NHS is encouraging students to find out their blood type and become blood donors to maintain supplies and address a declining number of young volunteers. NHS Blood and Transplant hosted a 'What's Your Blood Type?' event at the University of Birmingham, where participants could take a quick pinprick test and register as donors. Officials highlighted a particular need for O negative and B negative blood stocks, as well as donors of Black heritage to help treat conditions like sickle cell disease.
Key points
- NHS Blood and Transplant held a 'What's Your Blood Type?' event at the University of Birmingham to recruit student donors.
- The NHS requires approximately 5,000 blood donations daily and currently needs to increase stocks of O negative and B negative blood.
- Figures show that regular blood donors aged over 45 outnumber those under 45 for the first time in five years, with 17 to 24-year-old donors almost halving over the past five years.
- The NHS is also seeking more donors of Black heritage to provide ethnically-matched blood for treating sickle cell disease.
- The University of Birmingham campus represents a significant pool of potential donors with nearly 40,000 students and 8,000 staff members.