Urgent need for blood as donations in the West Country drop during the hot weather

The World Cup and the recent heatwave have caused a drop in blood donations - leading to an urgent plea for donors.

Blood donation centres across the West Country are calling for more O Negative blood as stocks drop due to the warm weather days.

On normal warm weather days, blood donations have often been around 5% to 10% down on what was forecast according to the NHS.

Around the country, donations have significantly dropped on England’s match days, with a maximum drop of around 20% on Saturday as England beat Sweden.

The NHS says the combined effect has meant a loss of around 2,000 blood donations in the last two weeks.

That has left an urgent need for people with the valuable O negative group to donate at Bristol and Plymouth Donor Centres in the next few days.

Stock levels are low and will fall below three days as the hot weather continues.