NORTH Essex health bosses have welcomed a raise in age limit for blood donors NHS Blood and Transplant has always had an upper age limit of 70-years-old after which donors have to stop.
Now regular donors, if they are fit and healthy, can keep giving past their 70th birthday.
The change in the rules means about 15,000 donations could flow into the blood service each year.
Lynda Hamlyn, chief executive of NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “Our older donors are among our most loyal and many want to keep giving beyond their 70th birthday.
“We continually review our donor criteria and given the steady improvement we have seen over recent years in the general fitness of our older donors, it is now safe for us to remove our upper age limit for donation.”
A spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust said: “Only about one in 25 adults – four per cent – donates blood regularly and we welcome any steps that can be taken to help drive this figure up.”
For more about becoming a blood donor contact 08457 711711 or visit blood.co.uk
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