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The NHS blood service issued an urgent alert across hospitals in England on Thursday as supplies fell to a “critically low” level, with less than two days worth of vital O-negative blood.
NHS Blood and Transplant said a cyber attack last month that disrupted hospitals in London and a fall in the numbers of donors had created a “perfect storm” and “unprecedentedly low levels” of blood stocks.
It has just 1.6 days worth of supplies of O-negative blood, often used in emergency situations as it can be given to all patients, well below the NHS target of six days or more.
Overall national stocks of blood across all types stood at 4.3 days. An “Amber Alert” has been triggered across the health service to ensure certain blood types are being used for patients most in need.
The alert requires hospitals to restrict the use of O type blood to “essential cases and use substitutions where clinically safe to do so”.
Dr Jo Farrar, NHS Blood and Transplant chief executive, said: “We urgently need more O group donors to come forward and help boost stocks to treat patients needing treatment.”
A ransomware hack last month by Russian group Qilin on the laboratory services provider Synnovis disrupted blood transfusions and tests across major London hospitals.
The NHS said on Thursday that it had specifically affected O-type blood stocks, which doctors often give to patients when they do not know their blood type.
Since the incident in June, those hospitals have needed an additional 1.7 days of O negative stock, which the NHS said was a “94 per cent increase compared to the same period last year and equating to 170 additional O negative donations every week”.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, added that the NHS was seeing an “increased demand for blood and shortages of stock, so it important that donors come forward for appointments”.
The NHS Blood and Transplant service noted that the summer months can be more “challenging” as fewer people take up appointments as they go on holiday.
Unexpectedly hot days can also mean the public are unable to give blood due to “a lack of hydration or lower iron levels in their blood”.