We are pleased to inform you that the information leaflet for patients ...

Thursday, 20 December 2007
To: Transfusion Laboratory Managers, Transfusion Practitioners, Consultant
Haematologists with responsibility for transfusion laboratories and Chairs of HTCs in
hospitals served by the National Blood Service (NBS)
For Information
1.0 Transfusion Matters
2.0 Consolidation of RCI work in South and South West
3.0 Changes to reagent manufacture in 2008
4.0 Units of Non-UK Methylene Blue treated and removed Fresh Frozen Plasma for
Neonatal and Paediatric Use (MB FFP) from the Scottish National Blood Transfusion
Service (SNBTS)
5.0 National Commissioning Group Communication
6.0 Training & Education events and courses
For information
1.0 Transfusion Matters
The Transfusion Liaison Nurse(TLN) team have produced the Autumn/Winter 2007 edition of
Transfusion Matters, the newsletter for ward based hospital staff. The aim of the newsletter is
to help raise awareness of transfusion issues.
The theme of this latest edition of Transfusion Matters is 'the journey of a bag of blood from
the donor to the patient'. The newsletter highlights the main stages which blood goes through
before it can be issued to a hospital for transfusion.
This edition also features a request for some feedback from readers about the usefulness of
this publication. There is a tear off slip with a freepost address so that readers can return this
feedback to the TLN team. By putting their e-mail address in the space provided on the form
they can be entered into a prize draw to win a copy of 'A Manual for Blood Transfusion'.
Copies of Transfusion Matters can be ordered from Hospital Liaison Admin Team
Hospital.Liaison@nhsbt.nhs.uk
01865 440037 and will be restricted to 50 copies per hospital in the first instance.
Kath Hearnshaw, Transfusion Liaison Nurse
2.0 Consolidation of RCI work in South and South West
The joint consultation process for the transfer of work from Southampton to Bristol and
introduction of new working arrangements at Bristol was completed on 11 th November. The
plan is to move all RCI work from Southampton to Bristol by the end of March 2008. A joint
hospital / RCI workshop was held recently, to give Southampton RCI customers the
opportunity to hear and comment on current plans for testing and transport of samples. In
order to take on the extra work in Bristol RCI and to implement changes to working hours
there, more BMS staff will be needed. Advertisement for these posts has started.
Consolidation of RCI work at Bristol will be followed by transfer of all RCI work from the
current site at Bristol to the new site at Filton in late 2008.

3.0 Changes to Reagent manufacture in 2008.
Starting in mid-2008, the plan is that reagent production will transfer from Cambridge and
Birmingham to the Liverpool Reagents Unit. Further details will be given in the annual
communication regarding standing orders, prices and despatch dates which will be distributed
in early 2008. The Liverpool Unit already produces a large proportion of NBS Reagent
product lines and this consolidation will make our production more robust and help with
containing costs. We aim to continue to use NBS transport as our principal means of
distribution and have formulated plans to ensure there is no adverse effect on deliveries.
Gordon Burgess, RCI Redevelopment Lead
4.0 Units of Non-UK Methylene Blue treated and removed Fresh Frozen Plasma for
Neonatal and Paediatric Use (MB FFP) from the Scottish National Blood
Transfusion Service (SNBTS)
To assist with stock management we occasionally import blood and blood components from
the SNBTS.
Please note the SNBTS does not mark plasma imported from the United States as Non-UK.
Any SNBTS units of MB FFP issued to hospitals supplied by the NBS are from non-UK
sourced donations. When we changed to plasma sourced from the United States the
SNBTS continued to use the barcodes that were originally used for UK MB FFP so the codes
may still be on your hospital systems. The codes you require are detailed below. Also please
note that the MB FFP for paediatric use imported from the SNBTS will not be marked for
paediatric use.
Fresh Frozen Plasma for Neonatal Use (Methylene Blue Treated & Removed)
Start Code Barcode No Stop Code Additional Information
a0 82901 3b Pack One
a0 82902 3b Pack Two
a0 82903 3b Pack Three
a0 82904 3b Pack Four
Fresh Frozen Plasma (Methylene Blue Treated & Removed)
Start Code Barcode No Stop Code Additional Information
a0 82910 3b Single unit
Apologies for any confusion this may cause. In the long term the Standing Advisory
Committees on Blood Components (SACBC) and Information Technology (SACIT) are
working towards commonality amongst the UK blood services regarding blood component
labels.
Heather Aplin. Hospital Liaison Manager, Projects
5.0 National Commissioning Group Communication
The National Commissioning Group which is responsible for establishing the price of blood
components and other NBS services met in October 2007 to agree the 2008/9 price
structures. The communication detailing the outcome of this meeting will be issued to
hospitals shortly. The finance sub-group of the NCG will shortly be asked to review the NBS
financial position at Month 9 i.e. end of December 2007 after which the NBS will issue
rebates to hospitals. It is therefore highly unlikely that any rebates will be issued before the
end of January 2008.

6.0 Training & Education events and courses
A full list of NBS training events, which are open to hospital personnel, is available on the
following area of our website.
http://hospital.blood.co.uk/training/index.asp
If you have any queries regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact your local
Hospital Liaison Manager, Transfusion Liaison Nurse or either of us, using the details
below.
For those of you who receive hard copies of this letter, it will be available shortly, along
with many other pieces of information, on the NBS hospital website at:
Yours sincerely,
http://hospital.blood.co.uk
Prof. Mike Murphy Teresa Allen
National Medical Lead - Hospital Liaison Head of Hospital Liaison
Tel: 01865 44 7902 Tel: 01865 44 0042
email: mike.murphy@nhsbt.nhs.uk email: teresa.allen@nhsbt.nhs.uk