Red Cross Lifeblood calls for donations as demand drops

The Australian Red Cross is urging people with O-positive and O-negative blood to become donors this week, to tackle a national shortage.

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00:00Lifeblood says an extra 9,500 blood donations of O positive and O negative blood donors

00:08are needed in the next seven days to ensure that it can meet the needs of patients around

00:13the country.

00:14To break that down state by state, here in South Australia around 300 extra donations

00:19are needed.

00:20In New South Wales around 3,000 and the highest is in Victoria where an extra 3,500 donations

00:27are required.

00:28The organisation says right now it's seeing the highest rates of people cancelling or

00:32rescheduling their appointments since June last year.

00:35It says already winter illnesses and high demand have led to a slump in its stocks, meaning

00:41O type blood supplies are at their lowest level since October 2023.

00:46Lifeblood says each day it issues close to 10,000 blood transfusions and medications to

00:51hospitals around the country to meet patient demand.

00:55O type blood is the most frequently ordered by hospitals and can be used in emergency situations

01:01by anyone regardless of their own blood group.

01:04Fewer than 7% of the Australian population is O negative, making it one of the rarer blood

01:10types.

01:11However, its versatility means it makes up about 16% of the blood ordered by hospitals.

01:16Meanwhile, O positive, well that's one of the most common blood types.

01:19Around 40% of Australians are O positive, meaning they too can help save lives in emergency situations.

01:27Lifeblood says if you don't know your blood type, now is a very good time to find out and

01:31is asking everyone to book in an appointment and roll up your sleeve.

01:35Meronseeller says if you don't know�� Twitter, maybe you can check places in asking questions tomorrow.

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