EXPERTS have warned that 2012 could be a challenging year for the blood transfusion service owing to major events such as the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) fears extra bank holidays and a bumper sporting calendar could create a shortage of blood supplies.
This year, thousands fewer people donated blood due to bank holidays at Easter and the royal wedding, while in 2010, the World Cup and Andy Murray's Wimbledon semi-final also created a drop.
Moira Carter, National Donor Services manager for SNBTS, said: "Whenever anything major is going on, it's very easy for people to forget to give blood and this year is going to be a challenging one for us.
"Although the Olympics may not directly impact on Scots, we've noticed in the past that major sporting competitions –particularly those in our time zone – can result in a drop in the number of donors, and this event is right on our doorstep.
"There's no doubt this will affect our blood stocks and it will be a challenging time for us.
"We've already had to work hard to build up stocks for Christmas and New Year because many of our regular donors are busy at this time of year.
"We've tried to encourage new donors to give blood, particularly younger people, and we hope they will continue to come back to see us through the coming year.
"We want them to see giving blood as a good habit, not just something you would do as a one-off.
"If they give blood just three more times throughout the year, that will be nine people's lives they have saved.
"Every year we encourage people to give blood at the festive period and it would be great if more people made it their New Year's resolution this year and continued it. Why not do something different and help to save someone's life?"
Ms Carter revealed that 5000 people were needed to give blood every week just to keep the transfusion service running – a total of 260,000 donations.
She added that around 200,000 units of blood would be needed by hospitals throughout 2012.
Her concerns for the coming year were echoed by Jon Latham, assistant director for blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant.
He said: "2012 is going to be an exciting year for the UK but we're concerned that the cluster of major events could dramatically impact the number of blood donations coming in.
"We're calling on the public to make regular blood donation a New Year's resolution. Whether you've never donated before or haven't done for a while, please book your appointment and help save lives in 2012."
Television presenter Penny Smith, who is also supporting the campaign, added: "I have been a regular blood donor since I was 18 and love having a nice lie down and a biscuit while feeling terribly virtuous.
"I'm so pleased I'm able to give blood this Christmas and have already made my appointment to do it again in 2012.
"Giving blood is simple for the donor but it's life-changing for the patient who receives it.
"Make your New Year's resolution a life-saving one – give blood."
Anyone interested in giving blood can find more information on the SNBTS website www.scotblood.co.uk or by calling 0845 90 90 999.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article