Manx blood donors sought after England shortage warning

An emergency blood donation session is being held at the Old Noble's donor suite in Douglas

Manx Care is appealing for people with O negative or O positive blood to come forward to an emergency donation session after an alert in the UK.

Blood supplies have fallen to a critically low level in England which means hospitals may have to postpone some non-urgent operations.

A lack of staff to care for people giving blood was partly to blame, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) said.

A drop-in session is being held from 1500 to 1800 BST in Douglas.

The Pathology team would like to see donors who are feeling fit and well and have not given blood since 27 June 2022 at the Old Noble's donor suite.

O blood groups are in demand because O positive is the most common blood type, and everyone can receive O negative blood in an emergency or if a person's blood type is not known.

Blood types in demand are O positive and O negative

Maintaining a regular supply of all blood types was "vital to ensure the right blood is available to everyone who needs it", a spokeswoman for Manx Care said.

"It's estimated that around 8% of people have O negative blood, but O negative makes up 13% of requests from hospitals," she added.

People with any other blood types should not attend the emergency session unless agreed with the donor team.