Blood reserves now

Understanding the droplet barometer

• If the droplet for your blood group is half-empty or lower, we recommend that you book an appointment for today or for in the next few days.
• If the droplet for your blood group is full, we recommend booking an appointment for the following week, for example.
  Every weekday, we need donors from all blood groups to donate blood. If you have an appointment booked, or if you have time to donate right now, you are welcome to donate regardless of how much blood is in the droplet for your blood group. You do not need to know your own blood group before you donate blood.

If you have already booked an appointment for a blood donation

Great! You are warmly welcome to donate blood, regardless of how full the droplets are. We need you!

If you have received an invitation to donate blood

If you receive an invitation from us, we need you right now, regardless of how full the droplet for your blood group is. When we call in blood donors, we need either red blood cells, platelets, or both. We recommend making an appointment for today or for in the next few days.

You may receive an invitation from us to donate blood urgently, even if the droplet for your blood group is full. This is because patients are in particular need of platelets, which only last for five days.

Information about the blood stocks

The need for blood shown by the blood droplet barometer is affected by factors such as:

• how many blood donation appointments are available,
• the number of blood donors over the previous days,
• the amount of blood used by hospitals, and
• an estimate of how much blood will be needed in hospitals in the coming days.

The goal for the Blood Service is to maintain a red cell reserve of five days for each blood group. This ensures that blood supplies remain uninterrupted even in the event of a major disaster. In order to maintain safe blood reserve levels, approximately 700 blood donors are needed each weekday.