Blood Donors Will Now Receive A Text When They Save Someone's Life

They'll be reminded of the heroes that they are.

Blood donors in the UK will now receive a text message when their blood is used in hospital to save or improve a person's life.

The NHS hopes that the scheme will encourage new donors to give blood and will prompt existing donors to donate on a regular basis.

The news has been released to coincide with World Blood Donor Day, which highlights the importance of blood donation across the globe.

Emma Innocenti via Getty Images

The new scheme is already a huge success in Sweden, where people receive an appreciative text every time they donate and another when their blood is used to help someone in need.

Sweden's blood service also shares its current blood stock levels to prompt people to donate.

Karolina Blom Wiberg, communications manager at the Stockholm blood service, previously told The Independent: "We are constantly trying to develop ways to express [donors'] importance.

"This method does just that! These text messages help donors feel more connected to the people they are helping. Wouldn't you want to donate again if you knew you were saving lives?"

The UK is particularly low on donations from young people and those from South Asian and black communities, according to the NHS.

Experts hope that by implementing the text message scheme, more people will feel inspired to help.

Mike Stredder, director of blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, told the International Business Times: "We are always looking at new ways to encourage donation and we hope that the new texting service will show how vital blood donations are used to help people in need.

"While donors don't get to meet the people who have benefited from their blood, our texts to donors will remind them that hospitals, and patients, rely on their donations."

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