Call for blood donors to make appointments due to short supply 

The IBTS receives 500 to 600 donations a day running from Monday through Thursday. Between blood and platelets they need to collect around 3,000 units of blood a week, 52 weeks of the year.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has called on donors to make appointments as there is a critical need for blood with stocks continuing to be negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Chief Executive of the IBTS Orla O'Brien said their blood supply isn't where it needs to be even if it has somewhat stabilised.

"We are at 5.3 days (supply) today. We would like that up closer to seven. Within that some of our Rhesus negative stock and A positive is under four. That is definitely lower. Ideally, we would like that to be up at five days before next weekend.

"Next weekend is obviously a bank holiday. We are hoping for a strong collection next week. So for some of our groups we are close to a pre Amber state. Certainly, we don't want to be getting into the zone of an Amber alert. That has a knock on the health system."

The IBTS receives 500 to 600 donations a day running from Monday through Thursday. Between blood and platelets they need to collect around 3,000 units of blood a week, 52 weeks of the year.

Typically a unit of blood will only last 35 days. Ms O'Brien says if blood is being used for premature babies they need fresh blood only which was only collected within five days of it being required.

"We constantly need to refresh that supply and can't stockpile. It is something we have to do on a continual basis. A day supply for us is about 400 units but we need to collect about 3,000 units a week to meet our demand," Ms O'Brien told Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1.

Ms O'Brien says Covid continues to cause problems for the service.

"Everything changed with us with Covid and it still continues to this day. Despite the fact that we are an essential health service a lot of what we do is based out in the community.

"If we roll back to March 2020 we were the length and breadth of the country collecting blood. Whether we had in Covid in community we still need to collect blood. And we have had to do that for the last two years.

"Initially in March and April of 2020 demand fell off. But since May of 2020 we have been back at our normal and even higher than normal demand. But our ability to keep the supply coming in has been massively challenged by Covid."

In recent weeks the 14-day waiting period between having Covid-19 and giving blood was reduced to seven days with a negative antigen test.

Members of the public who are interested in becoming new donors can register their interest on www.giveblood.ie.