Blood stocks are at a critical level after the Easter bank holiday and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has contacted hospitals to advise it is actively managing stock to ensure blood is available for those who need it most.
The service on Tuesday appealed to donors to attend clinics this week to help bolster supplies, with its aim being to have a weeklong reserve available at all times.
However, the service said it had little more than two days’ supply of O-positive blood, the lowest level recorded this year, after the long weekend and just over three days’ supply of other key types.
IBTS director of production and hospital services Barry Doyle said demand for blood from hospitals has been high, particularly during March.
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“This has coincided with bank holidays around St Patrick’s Day and Easter, with some donors taking advantage of the holidays and good weather, meaning they have been unavailable for clinics during that period,” he said.
“We have contacted the hospitals to advise that the stock levels are very low and we will be actively managing stock to ensure blood is available for those who need it most.”
Doyle said the IBTS was working closely with hospital teams “to prevent the need to cancel elective surgery or restrict treatment of patients”.
In response to the shortage, the IBTS has added five clinics across the country for this Sunday. It said it had been seeing lower than normal booking rates for its permanent centres in Dublin and Cork and it was “vital” that these numbers improve.
“Ideally, we need to increase our collections by an additional 500 donations per week across all blood groups before the May bank holiday, to be able to meet the consistently high demand,” Doyle added.
Donors are encouraged to make an appointment, which can be booked online or via the freephone number 1800-731137.
New donors are also being encouraged to come forward, with the eligibility criteria available at giveblood.ie.
