Hundreds of blood donors back South Yorkshire campaign

The Missing Type campaign to highlight the need for more new donors — particularly those of rarer blood groups — inspired 24,000 people across England to sign up to give blood, with almost 8,000 people in the first three days.

NHS Blood and Transplant saw double the number of people register to become new donors in England during the two-week campaign compared to the previous fortnight, including 468 in South Yorkshire.

The campaign aimed to tackle a fall in donors over recent years and highlight the shortage of O negative and A negative donors, younger blood donors and people from black and South Asian backgrounds.

Throughout the Missing Type campaign, As, Bs and Os — the letters of the main blood groups — disappeared in locations around the world to highlight the drive for donors.

To sign up as a new donor, visit www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.