Campaign for plasma donors begins as North East centre is only 35% full each day

NHS adverts are going live in the North East because there are not enough people donating plasma.  

Plasma is used to make life-saving medicines but the Stockton donor centre is only around:

The adverts, across social media and public places, will be part of a sustained campaign to drive up donor numbers over the next six months.  

The NHS relies on imported plasma medicines however global supplies are under long-standing pressure due to rising demand. The pressure has increased due to coronavirus affecting donation in the USA.  

NHS Blood and Transplant started taking donations this year to bolster long term UK supplies but the number of donors is far behind target.  

Plasma donation is new and research shows only two in ten people know about it. Awareness is low because plasma donation restarted in April after a break of more than 20 years.

The 11 new plasma donor centres are in Barnsley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bristol, Chelmsford, Croydon, Manchester, Reading, Stockton, Stratford, and Twickenham.  

Plasma is used to make medicines full of donor antibodies that fight bacterial and viral infections. 

This medicine, known as immunoglobulin, is used to strengthen or stabilise the immune systems of people with rare, life threatening diseases.   

The campaign will headline with the message that plasma is ‘the medicine in you’, emphasising that for some patients there is no alternative treatment is available.  

Plasma is the fluid that carries everything around the body, including the antibodies which can help the recipient fight infections.   

Plasma donation is similar to blood donation. In plasma donation, blood is gradually run through a machine that separates out some plasma. Red blood cells are returned to the donor, so they can carry on with your day as normal.