Supply of Blood and Blood Products

Lord Watts Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

That is part of the potential solution, in addition to where donors go, how they are communicated with and how easily they can make appointments. We will certainly put the noble Lord’s suggestion into the mix; it is certainly something that I have discussed in respect of the Civil Service, and it varies across departments.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, we are seeing reductions in the number of donors, whether it be in blood or in organ donation. Are we not getting to a serious situation where the Government need to think about how they can increase donations to historic levels?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am not sure that I agree with the reflections of my noble friend, although I do agree that we have a shortfall of some 200,000 donors to shore up and grow our blood supply. As I said, the situation remains fragile, which is why we need more support. We are constantly working to identify gaps and opportunities to strengthen and diversify the donor base through a donor base resilience programme, launched just this year. It is not just numbers; it is also the range of people, as we heard in earlier questions.