Blood stocks drop to ‘unprecedentedly low levels’ in England

The NHS Blood and Transplant has issued an amber alert for only the second time in its history as blood donor numbers drop in summer coupled with high temperatures lowering iron levels. An increase in demand at the booking website prompted the organisation to ask for more O negative and O positive donors to urgently book an appointment for donation. Contingency plans are in place to restrict the use of O-type blood to essential cases only.