A CAMPAIGN to recruit 100,000 new blood donors in 100 Days has been hailed a great success after the target was smashed two weeks early.
People came forward in their thousands to support the campaign run by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) which was launched following a dramatic decline in the number of younger donors signing up in 2012.
A total of 4,509 people from Hampshire supported the campaign in the run-up to Valentine’s Day joining the 119,907 that signed up across England and North Wales.
Jon Latham, assistant director for marketing at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: ‘We’d like to say a big thank-you to everyone who has supported the 100,000 new donors in 100 days campaign.
‘It is fantastic that we exceeded the target and people signed up with such enthusiasm and hopefully any new registrants who haven’t got around to donating will do so soon.
‘We rely on new blood donors to keep coming forward as we need more than 1,000 new registrations every day to replace those donors who can no longer donate.’
Young people are vital to the blood service, with 17 to 24-year-olds accounting for around 40 per cent of new donors each year.
The News ran a Christmas campaign to recruit younger donors and this also broke its target.
To find out if you are eligible to become a blood donor, visit blood.co.uk or call on 0300 123 23 23.
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