National blood supply down to just 3 days – IBTS calls for Donors to give Blood particularly O pos and O neg donors

18th October 2016

The IBTS is calling for an extra 1500 donations over the next 3 weeks to stabilise the blood supply

With just 3 days supply it will be very difficult to guarantee supply to hospitals in the coming weeks unless there is a significant increase in donations. "While the Summer is always difficult, with donors travelling and their routines disrupted during the school breaks, we still managed to maintain the supply to the hospitals” said Director of Operations Paul McKinney. “However, attendances at clinics over the past number of weeks have been consistently down 6% while the demand for blood from hospitals has remained constant. This drop in attendances has eroded the blood supply. The IBTS is calling for blood donors to make a special effort to give blood over the coming weeks to restore blood supplies to 7 days across the main blood groups’

In addition to normal clinics, the IBTS is taking a number of measures to address the shortage in supply including extra clinics on Sunday 23rd October in Wexford Town, Celbridge and Mountbellew.

All clinic details are available on www.giveblood.ie