Annual Press Conference 2018: Give Blood Alliance

Annual Press Conference 2018: Give Blood Alliance

        The Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) held its annual press conference today (8 February) to review its blood donation and supply in 2017.

2017 in review

Blood Collection

        Dr C. K. Lee, the Chief Executive and Medical Director, reported at the press conference that the total number of donor attendance and successful blood collection for whole blood, platelets and plasma in 2017 were 312,972 and 244,653, dropped by 4.7% and 5.3% in comparison to 2016. Despite a slight drop in the number of deferrals, there were still 68,319 prospective donors attended being deferred, which accounted for 22% of the total. Among them, 35,673 were still deferred due to low haemoglobin level, which made up 52% of the deferrals.

Besides, the number of donors attending our blood donation venues had been significantly affected by weather conditions. There were five No. 8 Gale or Storm Signals issued from June to October last year when blood collections were seriously affected or even terminated due to the unstable weather. Moreover, the cold weather in the last few weeks had also lowered the public’s intention to give blood.

                In 2017, the nine blood donor centres collected 192,214 blood units, which made up 78.6% of the total blood collection. It reduced by 4.4% compared to 201,149 units in 2016. The remaining 21.4% were contributed from mobile blood drives, mobile vehicles and campus donor centres in universities, which collected 52,439 units, an 8.1% drop compared to 57,073 units collected in 2016.

First-time Blood Donors

                With lesser younger population in Hong Kong, the number of first-time blood donors was declining from 36,651 to 33,626 when compared to 2016 which marked a 8.3% drop. Nevertheless, the number of aged 16 youngsters participating in blood donation remained similar to last year, with 7,607 recruited to donate blood. The BTS hoped that the number of first-time donors will boost up in 2018.

Female and Male Blood Donors

                In 2017, 115,726 blood units were collected from 85,638 female donors whereas 128,927 were collected from 74,225 male donors. The data indicated that female had higher motivations than male to donate blood.

Blood Products Issue and Clinical Utilization

        Dr Lee pointed out that all the blood collected had to undergo component separation,  processing and testing before they were issued to hospitals blood banks for clinical transfusion.  As less blood was collected in 2017, 487,094 units of blood products (including 230,981 red blood cells and 256,113 other blood products) were issued to hospitals for patients’ transfusion treatment which represented a 1.3% decrease when compared to 493,487 units in 2016.

                According to the figures from the Hospital Authority (HA), 207,888 units of red blood cells, 140,395 units of platelets and 55,451 units of plasma were used by HA hospital patients in 2017. Taking red blood cells as an example, more than 80% were used by the departments of medical and geriatric, surgical and orthopedic. Meanwhile, 63.7% of red blood cells were used by patients aged over 60 and 28.8% for those aged over 80.

                With an overall ageing population, the BTS forecasted that blood collection would remain difficult in 2018. According to the blood demand from hospitals in Hong Kong this year, the BTS has to reach the target of 1,100 donors attending our donation venues daily.

Key Messages for 2017

1. Despite the slight drop in deferrals, nearly half of the deferrals were due to low haemoglobin level. BTS will continue to strengthen our promotion in proper and better iron-intake in order to reduce the deferral.
2. The blood collection of BTS was significantly affected by typhoons and adverse weather conditions in 2017.
3. BTS will continue to reach out and partner with more corporates, community groups and government bodies to host events to increase blood donation.
4. BTS will further strengthen and spread the importance of blood donation through public education. As there is no substitute of blood which also has limited shelf life, BTS needs to recruit more donors in order to maintain a stable blood supply in Hong Kong.

Key Initiatives for 2018

Relentless effort in recruiting donors to maintain a stable blood supply

1. Upgrading Services of Blood Donor Centres

The BTS has been exploring and implementing different measures to enhance the existing services. For instance, to cater the busy schedule of the general public, the daily operation hours of donor centres in Kwun Tong, Causeway Bay and Tsuen Wan have been extended since the second half year of 2017. Besides, an online appointment service for blood donation has been launched. The first phase of the online appointment service is having a pilot run at Tsuen Wan, Shatin and West Kowloon donor centres. Through the online system, donors can choose their desired date and time to donate blood at their preferred centre. Online appointment service will be available for other donor centres before the second quarter this year. Furthermore, the BTS will continue to review our current donation spots and service hours, enhance our mobile blood collection teams and increase the number of outreaching services.

2. Annual Plan: “Give Blood Alliance”

                Dr Lee pointed out that organisations, both in public and private sectors, are putting more emphasis on corporate social responsibility, and hopefully people in need can benefit from this positive trend. In view of it, the BTS is launching “Give Blood Alliance”, its 2018 brand new recruitment and publicity campaign, which aims to recruit more donors by rallying the support from all sectors in the community. In particular, BTS is looking forward to partnering with corporates and community groups to host more blood donation events. BTS believes the power of influncers in the donor community can help viral the importance of blood donation and thus make blood donation a lifelong habit.

To echo the programme, BTS will reward “Give Blood Alliance” logos, including Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, to corporates and community groups with strong participation in blood donation. The list of supporting corporates and community groups will be announced via mass media and digital platforms to acknowledge their efforts in upholding corporate social responsibility.

        At the same time, the BTS launches “Beep and Donate Blood” SMS reminder service this year. With just a few simple steps to register, the public can stay informed of the latest news and blood donation events as well as being part of the  “Give Blood Alliance”.