Where to donate O negative blood in and around Leeds to help with urgent appeal

Donation centres around the country have seen a significant drop in numbers recent weeks, particularly on England match days, with the quarter final game seeing a drop as high as 20 per cent.

On warm weather days, blood donations have also been down between five and 10 per cent less lower than what was forecast.

An urgent appeal

The combined effect has cost the NHS around 2,000 blood donations over the last two weeks, leaving an urgent need for people with the valuable O negative group to donate in the next few days.

NHS Blood and Transplant normally aim to have six days worth of blood stocks, but the recent heatwave and World Cup excitment has seen these levels fall to just three days work of O negative blood.

This blood group is especially important as it is the universal donor group which can be given to almost any individual in an emergency, making the specific O negative appeal especially urgent.

The NHS is now urgently appealing for support to ensure hospital patients get the O negative blood they need.

Where to donate in Leeds

NHS Blood and Transplant is asking O negative donors to book an appointment, or to walk into a donor centre and donate.

There is an urgent appeal for donors in Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield.

Those wishing to help can visit the following permanent centres to donate:

Leeds City Blood Donor Centre

Visit: 117 The Headrow, LS1 5JW. Book online here.

Bradford Blood Donor Centre

Visit: Kenburgh House, 28a Manor Row, BD1 4QU. Book online here.

Sheffield Blood Donor Centre

Visit: Cathedral Court, Church Street, S1 2GN. Book online here.

If you are unable to book an appointment online, call 0300 123 23 23 and request an appointment at your nearest centre.

NHS Blood and Transplant also have mobile teams collecting blood in community venues.

These can be found be entering you postcode on the https://my.blood.co.uk/ to find your nearest venue and checking the session availability.

However, the NHS have advised that many of these community sessions will be full and ask for donors to call ahead in advance to ensure they can secure an appointment at these sessions.

Donors are to make sure they are well hydrated on the day of donation and are asked to give 72 hours notice if they need to cancel.