The University of Edinburgh’s women’s and men’s hockey clubs will hold a joint blood drive from 16 to 30 November, as figures show young people are giving less blood.
In England, figures from NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), reported by the BBC, show that the proportion of regular donors aged 17 to 24 has almost halved in five years.
Approximately 408,000 of the 798,000 regular donors are now aged 45 or over, and for the first time in five years there are more regular donors over 45 than under.
NHSBT needs around 5,000 donations every day and says stocks of O negative and B negative blood are particularly low.
For patients, the stakes are high. Hannah, from Glasgow, needed four transfusions in 24 hours during a severe crisis linked to a rare blood disorder, she told the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service in 2024. Donors let her live like any other 20-year-old, she said, and “every donation really could save a life.”
Edinburgh is home to one of Give Blood 4 Good‘s university squads. In June, Edinburgh Medical School held its first pop-up blood drive, open to students, staff and the public. A second followed on 23 July.
Announced this week, Edinburgh’s women’s and men’s hockey clubs are hoping to give others the same chance, with a joint blood drive from the 16 to 30 November.
Members, followers and supporters are encouraged to book an appointment as a simple way to give back to the community.
The sports-club model has worked elsewhere. At Dundee University, 25 clubs took turns running blood drives over ten weeks, and 281 people pledged to donate, 58 per cent for the first time.
Elsewhere, universities are trialing a different approach.
The BBC reported that the University of Birmingham recently held a free “What’s Your Blood Type?” event, where a pinprick test gave students an indication of their blood type and the chance to book a donation.
A third-year student at Edinburgh University said that they would be more inclined to donate if they knew their blood type was in short supply.
Give Blood 4 Good, a charity that works with Scottish university sports clubs, says students are young, fit and healthy, which makes them fantastic donors.
A second year medical student said the main barrier to donating had been that “information [was] not easily available through the university.”
A student hoping to take part in the blood drive said “The university’s societies should continue to explore ways to encourage students and staff to donate.”
When asked whether the University could encourage students to donate, one student said “an incentive like a free drink at a University cafe would only draw people’s attention and maybe make them more willing to do it.”
Appointments can be booked on 0345 90 90 999. More information about donating, plus current blood stock levels and details of each blood type, is available at scotblood.co.uk.
Photo by Nguyễn Hiệp on Unsplash
