NHS Blood and Transplant are urging people in Devon to give blood as new targets reveal 3,335 new donors are needed in the county to save lives over the next year.

Nationally one million more blood donors are needed over the next five years to ensure patients receive the right type of blood to save and improve their lives, with a particular need for Black African, Black Caribbean and younger donors.

The five-year Blood Service Strategy sets ambitious plans to recruit up to a million new donors and double the number of regular donors with the rarest blood types.

This will ensure better matched blood types for patients in the future and reduce health inequalities.

Most people know the main blood types - O positive (35 per cent of the population), O negative (13 per cent), A positive (30 per cent), A negative (eight per cent), B positive (eight per cent), B negative (two per cent), and AB positive (two per cent).

But the public is less familiar with the many sub-types that can provide an even better match to improve their treatment.

There is a particular urgency for more donors of Black African and Black Caribbean ethnicity to treat people with sickle cell. Sickle cell is the fastest growing genetic blood disorder in the UK and mostly affects people of Black heritage.

It requires regular transfusions – most often with the specific blood sub type Ro.

A total of 55 per cent of Black blood donors have the Ro subtype compared to 2.4 per cent of donors from other ethnicities.

Blood donation generally takes up to an hour and you will be doing something amazing.

A mass public campaign was held during the recent National Blood Week and will run throughout June to identify people with most needed blood types.

Young people and those of Black African or Black Caribbean heritage are being urged by the NHS to find out their blood type, by making their first donation at one of the many events being held at Blood Donor Centres in England.

Attend a What’s Your Blood Type event or register today and book an appointment by visiting blood.co.uk, downloading the GiveBloodNHS app or by calling 0300 123 23 23.

Or if you are an existing donor and have not donated in a while, please book your next appointment, or keep checking back for future appointments.