Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps (a) his Department and (b) NHS Blood and Transplant are taking to increase the number of blood donations.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England. NHSBT has been using several initiatives to increase blood donations and in turn improve blood stocks.

For instance, the Department provided seed-funding to support NHSBT’s work to increase collection capacity and resilience, including the new Brixton Donor Centre which opened in December 2024. Additionally, the newly re-opened donor centre in Southampton and the Brighton donor centre that will open later in the year will increase NHSBT’s capacity to collect more blood.

National Blood Week, between 9 and 13 June 2025, saw campaigns seeking to recruit donors, particularly for blood groups where demand is high, and to increase the number of bookings. Messaging included a strong call to action for a million people to become regular donors.

NHSBT has a hotline to enable priority donors, which are currently O negative, B negative, and Ro donors, to find an available appointment. This function will be available for online and app bookings later in June 2025.

A Marketing Automation Tool was launched in September 2024 that will enable NHSBT to personalise the messages it sends to donors so that over the coming year, more of the communication donors receive will be relevant to them, making it easier for them to book an appointment at a time and place that suits them.