Are you a blood donor?

It’s National Blood week in the UK and NHS Blood and Transplant are launching a new campaign to ask people to give more blood or become blood donors.

They need an extra 204,000 new donors. There are now 40% less donors than there were 10 years ago. Meanwhile over in Sweden there is a new initiative where every time a donors blood is used to help someone else the donor is sent a text thanking them and telling them where there blood has been used. In the USA, China and Germany donors are paid for their blood.

The NHS Give Blood website has a useful section on who can give blood and information on what to do if you’re not sure.

How can we increase blood donations in the UK? Should donors be paid for their blood? What do you suggest?