The ITV2 Blood Squad is back

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


NEWS PROVIDED BY
ITV Press Centre

ITV2 and NHS Blood and Transplant have joined forces once again to appeal for young blood donors

The Halloween-themed promos produced by ITV Creative feature I’m A Celebrity…Extra Camp hosts Emily Atack, Joel Dommett and stars of Love Island, Ibiza Weekender and Don’t Hate The Playaz

The spookiest time of year is upon us and as the nation prepares to scare each other senseless for Halloween, the ITV2 Blood Squad has assembled to once again eliminate the fears that surround blood donation.

Last year, ITV2 and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) came together in a bid to dispel young peoples’ reservations about giving blood. During the campaign an enormous 31,000 people registered as blood donors, a 19% increase in registrations compared to the year prior.

As a result of the enormous rise in donor registrations, the ITV2 Blood Squad is back for a second year running, to encourage more young donors to register and book an appointment at one of the 23 donation centres across England.

This year’s squad is led by I’m A Celebrity…Extra Camp hosts Emily Atack and Joel Dommett and comprises an array of other fangtastic famous faces who are urging young people to register and donate.

Love Island’s Tommy Fury, Molly-Mae Hague, Curtis Pritchard, Amy Hart, Anna Vakili, Yewande Biala and ITV2 Blood Squad veteran Dr Alex George are joined by Ibiza Weekender’s Jordan Davies and David Potts as well as Don’t Hate The Playaz’s Lady Leshurr, proving that the ITV2 Blood Squad is ultimate #SquadGhouls.

The fresh, Halloween-themed promos produced and created by award winning ad agency, ITV Creative, see the squad debut their scariest looks yet leaving some of them completely unrecognisable. The promos will run on air, in cinema, and across digital and social media from 17th October in the lead up to Halloween.

Mike Stredder, Director of Blood Donation at NHS Blood and Transplant says: “We need 400 people to register as new donors every day to maintain the blood supply, for the best chance of keeping patients alive. For many reasons it’s vital that young people continue to register and donate – particularly young men – not least because older people become less likely to be able to donate blood. Please do something amazing and book an appointment to start saving lives, especially if you live or work near to one of our donor centres.”

Clare Phillips, ITV Director of Social Purpose says: “ITV has the ability to shape culture for good and the ITV2 Blood Squad campaign is a great example of how TV can change behaviour and make a real impact. We were thrilled with the success of the ITV2 Blood Squad last year, 33,000 sign ups were made to the blood donor register with the potential to improve and save up to 100,000 lives. We have even bigger ambitions for this campaign in 2019. It will be one of the ways that ITV will meet its target of encouraging 10million people to take action to improve their physical or mental health by 2023.”

Alex Mathieson, ITV2 Creative Director says: “The response to last year’s ITV2 Blood Squad campaign was overwhelming. This year we knew we had to make it even bigger and better. So, the idea of auditioning talent to grow the squad became the centre piece for the campaign. It was so great to see so much ITV2 talent, both in front of the camera and behind make the effort and give up their time for an incredible cause; that’s making a real difference to the NHS and lives around the U.K. It’s something were hugely proud of.”

Join us by registering to give blood, visit blood.co.uk/itv2bloodsquad to find out how to sign up and book an appointment today.

Find a future appointment – most new donors give blood within three months of registering. If you can’t find an appointment, please don’t worry. Please book an appointment for the next few weeks or months – you will still be saving lives.

-ENDS-

Notes to editor:

There are a number of ways you can support:

· If you are 17 or over, visit www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23 today to find out if you are eligible to donate, register as a blood donor and to book your appointment.

· Download our app by searching ‘NHSGiveBlood’ in the App store. It’s available for Android, Windows and Apple Smartphone and tablet devices.

· Twitter @GiveBloodNHS #giveblood #ITV2BloodSquad

About NHS Blood and Transplant

NHS Blood and Transplant is a joint England and Wales Special Health Authority. We provide the blood donation service for England and the organ donation service for the UK. We also provide donated tissues, stem cells and cord blood. We are an essential part of the NHS, saving and improving lives through public donation.

· NHSBT has 23 permanent donor centres in London (Tooting, Edgware, West End) Manchester (Plymouth Grove and Norfolk House), Cambridge, Luton, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leicester, Bradford, Leeds, Newcastle, Lancaster, Liverpool, Stoke, Birmingham, Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford, Southampton, Poole and Plymouth. Our mobile teams also collect blood at community venues such as church halls around the country.

· NHS Blood and Transplant needs to collect 1.4 million units of blood each year to meet the needs of patients across England.

· We need 135,000 new blood donors each year to replace those who stop donating and to ensure we have the right mix of blood groups to match patient needs in the future

· There is an urgent need for donors with Ro blood. Only 2% of our donors have Ro type blood. Collecting enough is a constant challenge. Ro is often used to save people with the rare blood disorder, sickle cell disease. Ro blood is ten times more common in black people than in white people.

· We urgently need more black donors as they are more likely to have the blood type needed to treat the increasing number of patients suffering from sickle cell disease.

· It is quick and easy to book an appointment to give blood. Call 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.blood.co.uk

October 18, 2019 4:15am ET by ITV Press Centre  

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