News and campaigns

Call for more blood donors to fill appointments as NHS steps up planned surgery in run up to Christmas

The NHS urgently needs more people with specific blood types to come forward as hospitals work to reduce the backlog of planned surgery as well as preparing for the usual busy winter period.

Dracula and English Heritage help call for vital blood types this Halloween

This Halloween, English Heritage is partnering with NHS Blood and Transplant to offer visitors the chance to discover something truly spine-tingling: their own blood type.

Jamaican diplomatic, business and acting worlds combine to save Black Britons affected by sickle cell

Jamaica’s High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Alexander Williams, will be part of a contingent of Jamaican business and cultural figures visiting London’s newest blood donor centre in Brixton on 21 October to deliver a lifesaving message.

We’ve teamed up with Channel 4 on our new blind date show, Love is in the Blood. Meanwhile, our new donor centre in Brighton opens its doors and we’re becoming a Hidden Disabilities Sunflower supporter.

The public holidays during the Christmas period will be welcomed in by people in their millions, but tens of thousands of donations of blood and platelets are needed to meet the shortfall the holidays, along with the cold weather and illness, create.

When former blood donor Sara was treated for an aggressive cancer, it left her with a rare autoimmune condition. Thankfully, medicines made from donated plasma were there for her on the other side.