A person walks past pictures of workers with the UK’s National Health Service posted outside a makeshift makeshift hospital in south London on January 5.
Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
A person walks past pictures of workers with the UK’s National Health Service posted outside a makeshift makeshift hospital in south London on January 5.
Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
The National Health Service in the UK has an “extremely low” blood stock and says it “urgently” needs people to donate blood.
Shortages have gotten so bad that officials say hospitals may begin postponing some elective surgeries to prioritize the amount of blood they have for patients with more time-sensitive needs.
Wendy Clark, interim chief executive officer of NHS Blood and Transplant, “Ask hospitals to limit their use of blood is not a step we take lightly. It is an important measure to protect patients. The one who needs blood the most” said in a statement.
“Patients are our focus. I sincerely apologize to patients who may have found their surgery postponed because of this,” Clark added.
UK authorities say they typically aim for more than six-day blood supply, but current supplies are predicted to soon fall to less than two days.
Part of the cause of the shortfall is fewer blood donors going to blood collection centers in cities and towns in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the NHS said. The service has also struggled with staff shortages and illness.
On Wednesday, the NHS declared a so-called “amber alert”, which will remain in effect for at least four weeks as officials try to boost the service’s blood supply.
In the meantime, hospitals will continue to perform emergency and trauma surgeries, cancer and transplant surgeries, among others. But health care providers can postpone some surgeries that require blood on standby, such as hip replacements, to replace those that don’t, including hernia repair and amputation. gallbladder removal, the NHS said.
Cheng-Hock Toh, Chairman of the National Blood Transfusion Commission, said: “I know that all hospital blood transfusion services, from top to bottom in the country, are doing their best to ensure that blood will be available. available for emergencies and emergency surgery,” said Cheng-Hock Toh, Chairman of the National Blood Transfusion Commission.
The NHS is asking everyone – especially those with O-positive and O-negative blood – to donate blood as soon as possible.
Health officials say they are also trying to provide more staff for appointments and fill vacancies more quickly.
