JOURNALISTS, printers and advertising sales staff signed up to save a life yesterday as part of the Oxford Mail’s support of National Blood Week.

Dozens pledged at a special session held at the Oxford Mail’s offices in Osney Mead to give blood at the Oxford Donor Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

But more people are needed across the county to ensure that there is a constant supply of blood in Oxfordshire hospitals.

On Monday, the Oxford Mail launched a campaign to find 2,000 donors across Oxfordshire this week.

NHS Blood and Transplant marketing officer Karen Healy, said: “We usually have enough blood to satisfy our minimum stock levels, but 60,000 units of blood are used over across England and Wales a day.

“We do sometimes find that there are lulls in donations so we need to call on donors when this happens.”

On average, Oxford University Hospitals Trust, which operates Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital, the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Banbury’s Horton General, uses 73 pints of blood a day.

The Oxford Donor Centre only has an average of 40 blood donors a day.

Although all blood is welcome, there are specific blood types that are universal and are in high demand.

Blood groups O and A are the most common in England, with 84 per cent in either of these groups.

Miss Healy, 37, said: “The blood that we are looking for most is O– for whole blood donors, because it can be used universally.

“If a person comes into A&E and needs a blood transfusion doctors won’t have time to test their blood so we want to give them something that we know will work, and O– is the blood type which works with all other blood groups.”

About eight per cent of donors across England and Wales have an O– blood group. Another rare blood group is B and according to NHS Blood and Transplant only 11 per cent of donors are in group B.

Miss Healy said: “Group B is the most common blood group for people [from the Asian subcontinent] so it is incredibly important we get more of it.”

Reporter Hannah Somerville is one of six people at the paper who has a group B blood type.

She said: “I was feeling a bit squeamish getting my blood type checked, but now I know that I have a rare blood type I realise it’s more important for me to donate.

“I think that regardless of your blood type you should always donate as your blood is more likely to help a greater number of people.”

Miss Healy and other members of NHS Blood and Transplant will be registering people to give blood at Leukaemia and Lymphoma Triathlon at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock this Saturday from 8am.

If you cannot attend you can register as a donor online at blood.co.uk or phone 0300 123 23 23.