Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times people have been called more than twice per day by NHS Blood and Transplant seeking blood donations in the last 12 months; and whether he is taking steps to ensure that the frequency of calls from NHS Blood and Transplant is not excessive.

In 2024, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) attempted 8,532,133 outbound calls to all donors across whole blood, platelets, and plasma for medicine. Of this total figure, 37.5%, or 3,199,031, call attempts resulted in a donor receiving up to three call attempts in a single day. Multiple attempts in a single day are generally to offer last minute appointments to eligible donors, or to ensure a session has a suitable blood mix ahead of sessions taking place.

NHSBT recently launched a new automated system to better target donors and reduce the number of calls needed to fill appointments and collect the appropriate mix of blood needed while meeting donor preferences for contact.

The NHSBT National Contact Centre will call a phone number up to three times a day, or three times within a five-day period, before resting the record, with no further call attempts, for a minimum of 21 days. Occasionally, NHSBT will make additional calls to priority donors, breaking the 21 day ‘rest’ period. This is often where particular blood group stocks are low, or demand exceeds supply.