National Blood Week 2022, 13th - 19th June 2022

This week marks the National Blood Week (13th June to 19th June), and we’re encouraging more people to donate and find out their blood type. We have some great social media assets and information to share, and would really appreciate your help in getting these out to your family and friends.

The National Blood Week materials are now live on the hub here, please do download and share as you think most appropriate.

Here is also a Sway document with key messaging and how you can get involved this National Blood Week.

NHS Blood and Transplant

Organ donation law changed – Two Years Anniversary

Today marks the second anniversary of the #OrganDonation opt out system coming into effect in England, known as ‘Max and Keira’s Law’. You still have a choice if you want to be an organ donor or not when you die and families will always be involved. www.organdonation.nhs.uk

Families are more likely to support organ donation going ahead if they know what their loved one would have wanted. Have you had the conversation? www.organdonation.nhs.uk

NKF and NBTA webinar – Friday 20th May at 3.30pm

The webinar organised by the National Kidney Federation (NKF) and the National Black, Asian, Mixed Race, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance (NBTA). This will take place on 20th May at 3.30pm, to mark the second anniversary of the organ donation law change. More details can be found on the poster here.

NHS Blood and Transplant – ‘Give Hope this Easter’ Campaign

We are excited to bring you our Easter campaign, which will run from 14th April to 19th April 2022. For many people, Easter is a time of hope and a celebration of the gift of life. So, it’s a perfect time to consider blood or organ donation.

The campaign aims to raise awareness about how we can help our friends, family and community, through the gift of organ donation or blood donation at this special time of year. Through press and social media activity, we will be encouraging people to register as a blood donor and book an appointment to donate blood, as well as talk about organ donation with your loved ones and register your decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.

We especially want to get more people of Black heritage talking about blood and organ donation. Can you help us?

The need for more blood donors of Black heritage:

• Sickle cell mainly affects people of Black heritage, and many people living with Sickle cell require regular blood transfusions.

• Black blood donors are ten times more likely to have the rare blood sub type (type Ro) needed to provide the best match

• That’s why we need more people of Black heritage registering as blood donors and booking an appointment to donate blood.

The need for more organ donors of Black heritage:

• We need more people from Black communities to tell their families they want to donate. Organ donation saves lives.

• Black ethnicity patients are over-represented on the transplant waiting list and more likely to need an organ transplant, due to susceptibility to illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension, which can result in organ failure.

• Certain organs, such as kidneys (which three quarters of people on the transplant waiting list are waiting for) are matched by blood group and tissue type. People from the same ethnic background are more likely to be a match

Easter campaign activity

We are excited to bring you some new content, we would love for you to share with your networks! Look out for these on NHSBT social media channels or you can download the videos here

• Video featuring BBC presenter Cole Morton sharing his message on organ donation

• Videos featuring Muyiwa Olarewaju, Premier gospel presenter and a singer song writer, sharing an important message on blood donation and organ donation

• Video featuring Tim Campbell, from the Apprentice, with a special message on blood and organ donation – we will share this video with you later this week

• New social media assets are available to download and share on your social media channels (the social assets are sized to fit most social platforms)

• A press release will go live on 14th April

Here are ways you can help us spread the word across your audiences:

1. Follow our social media channels @NHSOrganDonor @GiveBloodNHS, join the conversation, and share our campaign content

2. Share our Easter campaign social media assets, which are available to download here

Please use our recommended hashtags #GiveHope #Easter

3. Our press release goes live on our website on Thursday 14th April – please share with your networks 4. Encourage people to visit our websites to find out more

Blood donation – https://www.blood.co.uk/

Organ donation - https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

Suggested social media captions

#GiveHope this #Easter – join @NHSOrganDonor and help save lives

#GiveHope this #Easter – talk to your loved ones about organ donation and register your decision @NHSOrganDonor #GiveHope this #Easter – join @GiveBloodNHS and help save lives

#GiveHope this #Easter – sign up as a blood donor and book an appointment to donate @GiveBloodNHS

Aretha and Shanann’s story

There are always inspiring stories to share – people whose lives have been impacted by organ or blood donation. Here you can find and watch a touching story of Aretha and her daughter Shanann, who is a kidney and pancreas recipient. https://bit.ly/3Kzuh3H

Aretha comes from a family where organ donation was never openly discussed and she was against organ donation, but after seeing how a transplant has improved her daughter’s life, Aretha is now a passionate advocate for organ donation and encourages more people of Black heritage to register as organ donors.

NHS Blood and Transplant

Do something amazing today

- Give Blood. Organ donation. The gift of life. You can visit us at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk

Organ & blood donation workshop – why health matters?

Organ and blood donation-why health matters? Join us at a special workshop to explore ways in which you can help NHS Blood and Transplant
About this event

Organ & blood donation workshop – why health matters?

Date: Tuesday 19th April 2022

Time: 10am-3.30pm

Venue: Holiday Inn, Coram St, London WC1N 1HT

We are pleased to invite you to a workshop organised by NHS Blood and Transplant and members of the Free Churches Group, Paul Rochester, and Paul Harrison from PKMedia. The aim of this workshop is to learn more about organ and blood donation, and why we need more donors from people of Black heritage.

It is also a chance to discuss ways in which you could help us reach this target audience within your church networks.

As part of the workshop, there will be a special appearance from individual speakers sharing their inspiring stories about how their lives have been impacted by blood or organ donation. There will also be an opportunity to hear from amazing speakers sharing tips and facts about how to boost your iron levels before giving blood.

A hot food buffet and teas and coffees will be provided throughout the day.

Further details can be found below. To confirm your attendance, please register via Eventbrite by Monday 21st March.

Hope to see you there.

NHS Blood and Transplant
Do something amazing today - Give Blood.
Organ donation. The gift of life.
You can visit us at www.nhsbt.nhs.uk

If you’re tired and you know it, clap your hands

It is just over two years since the first patients to be treated for Covid-19 in England were admitted to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. It wasn’t too many weeks before other hospitals were admitting their first patients and words like shielding, social-distancing and lockdown started to enter into our vocabulary.

Nobody knew what to expect at nor how long things might last. As cases began to rapidly rise, a metaphor that I sometimes heard was of being in a 100 metre sprint. Over time, as cases did not rise quite as sharply as initially thought, but nor did they rapidly drop off either, that metaphor changed to one of being less a sprint but more a 10km race. As cases began to rise again in the later part of 2020, the distance was upped again to that of a marathon. Two years on and we must now be in the territory of ultra-distance racing!

I recently asked health and social care chaplains to send me three words that sum up a little of how they are feeling. The vast majority included the word ‘tired’ or some related synonym. Experienced staff, both chaplains and those in other professions, talk about how they have never known anything like it. There have always been busy times, particular during winter, but they say that they feel like they have been responding to a major incident for the best part of two years. A colleague recently wrote about how they hated the description of the NHS working ‘tirelessly’ as it plays down the reality of how shattered people actually are.

Throughout the time of the pandemic, even though Covid pressures have risen and fallen, the pressure on staff has not. Each time Covid infection rates fall, there is the pressure to catch up with postponed operations, tests, appointments, etc. Patients are often coming into hospital, or seeing GPs, later than they might have done previously and consequently may have more complex medical, emotional and spiritual needs. Alongside the exhaustion, there are also high levels of anxiety, guilt, and moral injury. The danger of burnout is very real with some modelling suggest that there could be as many as one in six doctors and nurses off sick throughout 2022.

Chaplains are not immune to this, as the frequency of the choice of the word tired shows. However – to finish on a more uplifting note – many chaplains also included positive words such as hopeful, grateful and blessed. It is the privilege of health and social care chaplains to minister to a community of patients, visitors and staff who face some of the most profound human experiences. The good news of the gospel is that our exhausted and fragile reality is bound up with the nature of God, distinctively revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, who shared our weakness and vulnerability. In paying attention to the meanings and stories of people’s lives, hopes, beliefs and doubts we affirm the dignity and value of people, whatever their circumstances, and are a tangible reminder of a transcendent dimension to life.

Revd Dr. Mark Newitt

Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy

Note: This reflection is written for the Churches Together in England