Oil and Gas People Supports Scotblood – Did You Notice Our Missing Types?
Oil and Gas People Supports Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service by participating in #missingtypes campaign.
Yesterday you may have noticed that the Oil and Gas People logo changed across our website and social media networks, with the letters A, B and O (the three blood groups) being removed as part of a joint nationwide awareness campaign for the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) in conjunction with other healthcare authorities across the UK.
The campaign comes after a survey revealed that the number of new donors to UK Blood Donor services has fallen by 30% in five years.
Oil and Gas People while delighted to participate in such a worthy cause are shocked that such an essential life saving service requires a nationwide awareness campaign to secure their donations and would therefore like to ask members of the oil and gas community to assist in maintaining adequate blood stocks across UK hospitals and emergency rooms.
With offshore working taking place in high risk environments with a multitude of hazards and an on-going potential for serious injury, we as workers are never sure when we might require the service ourselves, however blood donations are not just used in emergency rooms.
Your blood donation can split into three key components as follows:
Red blood cells – These are regularly used to treat forms of anaemia and also used as a treatment for Leukamia (blood cancer). They are often used during childbirth and given preoperatively to certain patients such as those suffering severe burns.
Platelets – These are used in several cancer treatments to prevent excessive bleeding.
Plasma – Can be broken down into specific immunoglobulins used to treat a variety of rare diseases including those of immunodeficiency.
SNBTS Associate Director of Donor Services Dr Moira Carter said: “In total there are eight different blood groups of which SNBTS aims to maintain a six to eight day supply at all times.
“We are asking the people of Scotland to register as blood donors, donate and support us by being blood group aware.”
If donating blood is something that is of interest to you, Oil and Gas People urges you to contact your local blood centre (Scotblood in Scotland, NHSBT in England, Welsh Blood in Wales, NIBTS in Northern Ireland and IBTS for the Republic of Ireland.
We also urge those of you not residing in the UK to contact your national blood transfusion service for more information on donating within your own country.
