Appeal for blood donations as supply falls to just 3 days

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has issued an urgent appeal for blood donations as the country’s supply of most blood groups has fallen to just 3 days in recent weeks.

The IBTS aims to have seven days stock at all times and their aim is to get an additional 2,000 donations over the next few weeks to increase the blood supply levels. 

Paul McKinney, Director of Donor Services and Logistics has made a statement about the supply issue, saying,  “There has been a consistently strong hospital demand for blood and we need to boost our collections by nearly 400 donations per week to meet it. The start of summer travel has also had an impact on donor availability”.

"We are asking regular donors who are texted over the next few weeks to make an extra effort to attend their nearest clinic. They are vital to addressing the current increased demand from hospitals”.

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

Since the pandemic, the number of new donors has dropped significantly. If anybody is interested in donating blood, they should visit https://www.giveblood.ie/become-a-donor in order to check their eligibility.

A ‘pre-amber alert’ was issued to hospitals last week on May 25 due to the 'critically low supply' of blood nationwide.