Bus Aunty joins full-blooded campaign to find city donors

SOCIAL MEDIA STAR JOINS EFFORTS TO HELP FILL 23,000 APPOINTMENTS

- By KUMAIL JAFFER

Bus Aunty is fully on board with the campaign

CITY Hall and the NHS have joined forces with viral social media star ‘Bus Aunty’ to encourage Black and ethnic minority (BAME) Londoners to come forward as blood donors this winter.

There are currently 23,000 unfilled blood donation appointments in the capital over the next six weeks - 42 per cent of the national total. NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) says it particularly needs donors with the Ro blood subtype.

This is used to treat patients with sickle cell, an inherited blood disorder that disproportionately affects people of Black African and Black Caribbean heritage.

However, there are 3,000 eligible Ro donors across London who have not made an appointment in the past 12 months.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) joined Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice, Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, on board a specially wrapped double-decker bus to promote the campaign across London.

Dr Weekes-Bernard said there was still some hesitancy in BAME communities around giving blood, and that she herself only became a donor two years ago.

There is now a yearlong campaign to recruit 16,000 additional Black heritage blood donors to help people living with sickle cell.

“We know that this year we need donors of Black heritage and that's largely because we know that ethnically-matched blood can really transform and save lives and now more than ever we really need to have more Black donors stand up, put themselves forward and maybe consider donating blood)’ she told the LDRS.