An appeal for help to stop the privatisation of core parts of the NHS blood service has been issued by Unison. The union has launched a campaign to prevent the sale of any part of the NHS Blood and Transplant Service, now under review by the Department of Health.

The service is responsible for transporting, processing and testing blood products and organs donated free of charge by members of the public.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: "Allowing private companies to make a profit from the blood and organs donated freely by the public is just wrong and we can't let it happen."

He warned that people would not feel the same about a service that is providing a profit for a private company. "Will donors want to give blood if someone else makes money from their gesture?" he asked.

If a sell-off goes ahead the union fears that people will stop contributing to the blood service. There is only about a week's supply of blood in stock at any time, so any drop in numbers of people donating would be potentially devastating and dangerous to the whole of the NHS.

For information about the campaign, go to the Unison website.