NHS bosses say there's a need for 5,000 new blood donors in Newcastl e alone - and during National Blood Week they're desperate to encourage people from diverse backgrounds to give blood.
The awareness week - which runs from June 13 to June 19 - has seen a new five-year "blood service strategy" published. This lays out the scale of the challenge and an ambition to add a million people to the ranks of those who give blood within the next five years.
The NHS Blood and Transplant also wants to double the number of donors who have the rarest blood types - it's especially urgent for more Black African and Black Caribbean people to come forward, as there are shortages of blood from people with the blood subtype Ro. Blood transfusions of that subtype are required to treat the life-threatening condition sickle cell, which mostly affects people of Black heritage.
