Manx Care is holding an additional blood donation session tomorrow (Wednesday 19 October 2022), in response to the UK’s current alert for low stocks of blood.
Manx Care’s Pathology team is putting out an appeal for any O negative or O positive blood donors who are feeling fit and well and have not donated in the last 16 weeks (since 27 June 2022) to ‘drop in’ to the session tomorrow between 15:00 and 18:00 at the Old Noble’s donor suite. Alternatively, please contact the team on 650637 and leave a message. It should be noted that only additional O+ and O- donors are required, and those with any other blood types should not attend this session unless previously agreed with the donor team.
Maintaining a regular supply of all blood types is vital to ensure the right blood is available to everyone who needs it.
It’s estimated that around 8% of people have O negative blood, but O negative makes up 13% of requests from hospitals. This is because anyone can receive the red cells from O negative donors, so O negative red cells can be used in emergencies or when a person’s blood type in unknown.
For further information regarding requirements, please see the medical questionnaire.
