Appeal for blood donors after cyber attack causes disruption to supplies

NHS Blood and Transplant centres in London are appealing for “O Positive” and “O Negative” blood donors to come forward to book appointments after last week’s IT incident caused delays in matching blood types.

In Fitzrovia regular blood donors — as well as new donors — can book an appointment at the West End Blood Donor centre in Margaret Street.

Dr Gail Miflin, chief medical officer for NHS Blood and Transplant, explained why O type blood is in demand.

“When hospitals do not know a patient’s blood type or cannot match their blood, it is safe to use O type blood.

“To support London hospitals to carry out more surgeries and to provide the best care we can for all patients, we need more O Negative and O Positive donors than usual.

“We have availability for donors who know they are type O but we also welcome new donors who don’t yet know their blood type. You might have one of these special types that can be used in emergencies,” said Professor Milfin.

The IT incident affecting pathology provider Synnovis means the affected hospitals in south east London cannot currently match patients’ blood at the same frequency as usual.

That means more units of these types of blood than usual are required over the coming weeks to support the wider efforts of frontline staff to keep services running safely for local patients.

“NHS staff are continuing to go above and beyond to minimise the significant disruption to patients following the ransomware cyber-attack on Synnovis earlier this week,” said Professor Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England.

“Urgent and emergency services are available as usual so patients should access services in the normal way by dialling 999 in an emergency and otherwise use NHS 111 through the NHS App, online or on the phone.

“But unfortunately, we know that a number of operations and appointments have been postponed or diverted to other neighbouring hospitals not impacted by the cyber-attack, as we prioritise pathology services for the most clinically urgent cases,” said Professor Powis.

Following the bank holidays and school half-term holidays, the NHS currently has lower than normal stocks of type O blood.

Paul O’Brien director of Blood Supply at the NHS said: “We are hugely grateful for the continued support of our amazing donors who help to save lives everyday by giving blood. We simply can’t do this without your incredible support and for this we truly thank you.”

For more information search GiveBlood online and on socials or visit Blood.co.uk

London West End Blood Donor Centre, 26 Margaret Street, London W1W 8NB.