Both SNBTS and NHSScotland are aware of the risks involved in all aspects of blood management and Scotland has invested in two important pieces of work:
• A Clinical Resource and Audit Group (CRAG) funded audit on the ‘Optimal Use of Donor Blood’
• An Audit Scotland study of hospital blood banks.
Both these pieces of work identified a number of areas where processes and practice could be improved. As a result of this, the Scottish Executive Health Department (SEHD) has introduced an extensive programme of work to improve and support transfusion practice (the Better Blood Transfusion Programme) and asked NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) to consider how it could address the quality improvement issues identified in these reports.
NHS QIS set up a Steering Group to take this work forward and the above document (available in both Word and PDF versions) reports on the Group’s recommendations.