Did you know our Trust is one of the biggest user of blood in the country? We administer 65,000 units of blood per year to around 15,000 patients. Blood transfusion is a life-saving treatment for these thousands of patients yet is a costly and scarce resource for the NHS.
During the last decade we have modernised our transfusion infrastructure, for example, embedding electronic processes in the laboratory and introducing remote blood fridges.
Our next step in modernising transfusion service is to introduce electronic bedside transfusion checks to our hospitals over the next two years. Thanks to the support from Barts Charity we are proud to announce that this new system will launch at St Bartholomew’s this week (19 June) with Newham, Whipps Cross and The Royal London hospitals to follow.
Our new electronic bedside transfusion system will bring many benefits to our patients and staff such as:
Improving patient safety by prompting staff to carry out key steps in the correct order, ensuring that transfusions are given to the right patients.
Reducing the rates of blood sample rejection, which will reduce the frequency of the need to re-bleed patients again. This will result in faster delivery of transfusion and other treatments which are dependent on transfusion (for example surgery) and will improve patient experience and outcomes.
Removing the need for the second nurse to perform blood transfusion checks prior to blood administration, therefore making the service more efficient, by freeing up staff time and allowing them to perform other important tasks.
Dr Louise Bowles, clinical director for clinical pathology and co-chief investigator for the project said:
‘The implementation of bedside electronic transfusion checks at Barts Health NHS Trust will be the largest in the world and we are so grateful to Barts Charity for their support. In addition to improving the current bedside transfusion systems at our hospitals, we will also be able to evaluate the benefits of the system for patients, healthcare professionals and hospitals. The output of this research will be vital for policy makers to consider the wider rollout of the system for NHS’.
Edna Koomson, lead nurse, haematology day unit at The Royal London Hospital, added:
"The new transfusion service is a great addition to our unit because we are always prioritising our patients’ safety. We want to be effective in the care we provide, and we want to minimise errors and speed up patient treatment without having to rebleed patients."
Our patients have also begun to see a difference in the care they received:
“Using barcodes gives me security and is efficient. It saves time as you do not have to wait for two people to confirm the identity of the patient.”
The implementation of this project would not have been possible without our hard-working teams behind the scenes, and of course Barts Charity for funding. A huge thanks to:
Sara Hammond, lead transfusion practitioner
Suzanne Makki, transfusion practitioner
Helinor Mcaleese, transfusion practitioner
Manaf Al-Bayati, transfusion practitioner
Claudio Geraci, IT specialist
Transfusion laboratory staff at our Barts Health Hospitals
If you would like to find out more about beside electronic transfusion, please contact a member of the implementation team listed above.
Blood transfusion checks go electronic
Did you know our Trust is one of the biggest user of blood in the country? We administer 65,000 units of blood per year to around 15,000 patients. Blood transfusion is a life-saving treatment for these thousands of patients yet is a costly and scarce resource for the NHS.
During the last decade we have modernised our transfusion infrastructure, for example, embedding electronic processes in the laboratory and introducing remote blood fridges.
Our next step in modernising transfusion service is to introduce electronic bedside transfusion checks to our hospitals over the next two years. Thanks to the support from Barts Charity we are proud to announce that this new system will launch at St Bartholomew’s this week (19 June) with Newham, Whipps Cross and The Royal London hospitals to follow.
Our new electronic bedside transfusion system will bring many benefits to our patients and staff such as:
Dr Louise Bowles, clinical director for clinical pathology and co-chief investigator for the project said:
Edna Koomson, lead nurse, haematology day unit at The Royal London Hospital, added:
Our patients have also begun to see a difference in the care they received:
The implementation of this project would not have been possible without our hard-working teams behind the scenes, and of course Barts Charity for funding. A huge thanks to:
If you would like to find out more about beside electronic transfusion, please contact a member of the implementation team listed above.
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