Businesses to offer ‘Donate Breaks’ so donors can give blood during working day
In a major move to tackle the ongoing blood shortage in England, leading commercial organisations, ranging from The Co-operative Bank, ITV (office-based colleagues), Hargreaves Lansdown, Gatenby Sanderson through to Basketball England, Millwall Community Trust and Alton Towers Resort, have pledged to give employees 'Donate Breaks’ - dedicated time off to donate blood during their working day.
With a critical need to boost blood stocks, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is urging more companies to do the same and help save more lives this winter.
The new 'Donate Breaks' initiative will be formally launched with an event at Alton Towers on Friday 18 October, where a team from NHS Blood and Transplant will be on hand to register and test the blood types of both staff and visitors to the park.
A new survey of more than 3,000 blood donors, carried out by NHSBT, shows 43 per cent of donors would be more likely to donate blood if given time off to do so by their employer. This rises to 65 per cent for those aged between 25 to 44.
Blood stock shortage
NHS Blood and Transplant issued an Amber Alert in July, which remains in place, due to a severe shortage of O negative blood triggered by a cyber-attack which impacted London hospitals earlier this year. The attack meant major London hospitals couldn’t cross match blood so the hospitals could only use O negative, which is used in emergencies and can be safely given to any patient when their blood type is not known.
The cross-matching system was not restored until the end of September so the impact on blood stocks has been long lasting and threatens to cause further shortages this winter unless more O negative and Black heritage donors are found.
More donors of Black heritage are particularly needed because a sub-type known as “Ro” is increasingly needed to treat people with sickle cell. Currently less than 2% of blood donors have Ro blood, but around 55 per cent of people of Black Caribbean and Black African heritage have this much needed blood type.
The NHS currently only has enough donors to supply half the amount of blood hospitals need to treat sickle cell. The rest needs to be substituted with O negative.
Get involved
Employees taking part in the 'Donate Breaks' initiative will be granted designated time off during their workday to donate blood. Companies will urge employees to book morning and afternoon weekday appointments at their nearest town or city centre blood donation centres.
With each successful blood donation saving up to three lives, businesses will also be able to track the number of lives their team have helped to save.
Other businesses are encouraged to join this initiative and support the NHS this Autumn and Winter by encouraging staff to become blood donors and adopting the 'Donate Breaks' initiative. For more information on how to get involved, visit our website.
If your employer already gives you time off to donate, please share your story and donation photos, with @GiveBloodNHS and #DonateBreaks
To register or book an appointment to give blood, please visit our website, use the GiveBlood app or call 0300 123 23 23.