"We urgently need more O group donors to come forward and help boost stocks to treat patients needing treatment," NHS Blood and Transplant Chief Executive Jo Farrar said in a statement. "The need for O negative blood in particular remains critical. "Only about 1.6 days' worth of O negative blood - the universal type used in emergencies when a patient's blood type is unknown - are left nationally, the NHS said. Overall national stocks of all blood types is at 4.3 days.The NHS has issued an "amber alert" to hospitals, asking them to restrict the use of O type blood to essential cases and use substitutions where it is safe to do so.Since the start of the cyber incident, affected hospitals in London have needed an additional 1.7 days worth of O negative blood - almost double the amount compared with the same period a year earlier. Blood has a shelf life of 35 days.Last week, a global IT outage affected the NHS's appointment and patient record system.

Source: The Times July 25, 2024 15:30 UTC