Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.National blood reserves are approaching an all-time low as the service struggles to meet an unprecedented demand from hospitals, the Department of Health said yesterday as it launched a new appeal for donors, writes Liz Hunt.
The National Blood Service aims to keep 20,000 units of blood in reserve - equivalent to two days' donations - but this has fallen to 15,000 units. Unless 2,000 more donors a day come forward, some hospitals may be forced to cancel operations.
All regular donors are being urged to keep their appointments and the NBS is appealing for new donors.
A spokeswoman for the service said supplies were being hit because hospitals had stepped up the number of operations and procedures needing blood over the past year.
'We are pretty close to an all-time low . . . We have boosted our collections but we are still struggling,' she said.
The NBS is collecting blood from 8,000-9,000 people a day but needs to achieve a daily target of 10,000 donations to top up reserves and meet the current demand.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments