by Sunny Hundal

A youGov poll out today reveals that a massive 64% of the public oppose privatising blood donations.

The government is looking to privatise the NHS Blood and Transplant Service.

YouGov found that 64% of people oppose plans to use private companies to run part of the NHS Blood and Transplant Service

25% would agree with the privatisation if it went ahead, with only 4% saying they would ‘strongly support’ the move.

The Government say they are considering whether to privatise part of the NHS Blood and Transplant Service in a bid to make it more ‘commercially effective’.

Sections of the service which could be run by private firms include testing, processing and transport of blood and are part of a wider strategy to outsource more NHS services.

However, the proposals have faced objections on the grounds that people who donate blood do so for free, so private companies should not profit from this goodwill. 25,000 signatures from members of the public have already been amassed in under a week, as part of a union-organised petition protest against the plans.

“The public have voted – it’s time for the Government to back off from their ill-conceived plans to sell-off parts of the NHS Blood and Transplant service” said Unison chief Dave Prentis today in a statement to press.

The campaign by Unison to oppose privatisation is here.