Limerick blood clinics appeal for donations, as a 'pre-amber alert' is given
A PRE-AMBER warning of blood shortage has been issued, following the need of an additional 2,000 units for hospitals.
New and existing donors in Limerick are being urged to give blood this June, with two clinics being located in the Greenhills Hotel, Ennis Road in Caherdavin and at the Community Centre in the Castle Demesne area of Newcastle West.
People can make an appointment for the Greenhills Hotel for Monday, June 12 from 4:20pm to 7:40pm or alternatively, can book in at Newcastle West on Tuesday 13, Wednesday 14 or Thursday 15 of June from 4:50pm to 8:10pm.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) is appealing for people to get supplies back to ‘normal’, which they consider as being stocked for seven days at any given time. A shortage of stock of less than three days has now been recorded.
“The target is to get an additional 2,000 donations over the next 5 weeks so we can significantly increase our blood supply levels,” said Paul McKinney, Director of Donor Services and Logistics.
“There has been a consistently strong hospital demand for blood and we need to boost our collections by nearly 400 donations per week to meet it. The start of summer travel has also had an impact on donor availability.”
A ‘pre-amber alert letter’ was issued to all hospitals on May 25, which outlines restrictions on hospital supplies. The IBTS needs to collect over 3,000 units of blood every week to maintain the national blood supply.
An ‘amber alert letter’, which is the next escalation level of the blood shortage plan, would have an immediate implication for hospitals and for elective surgical procedures requiring blood support.
Only 3% of the eligible population are blood donors but it is estimated one in four people will need a blood transfusion at some point in their lives.