SHOT Annual Report 2009 - Serious Hazards of Transfusion

4. SHOT 2009–2010
UK Transfusion Laboratory Collaborative
Recommended minimum standards for hospital transfusion laboratories
The recommendations of the UK Transfusion Laboratory Collaborative, which SHOT initiated and in which SHOT is a main
collaborator, have been sent to all laboratory and service managers as well as Trust/hospital chief executive officers
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and other stakeholders. They are also being considered by the Scottish Clinical
Transfusion Advisory Committee (SCTAC) and have been circulated to stakeholders in Scotland.
The collaborative’s work started in response to the year-on-year SHOT findings that 30%–40% of ‘wrong blood’ event
errors are due to errors originating in the hospital laboratory with a disproportionate number occurring outside ‘core
hours’.
The collaborative, of course, recognises the constraints under which hospital laboratories are working and accordingly
states in the recommendations: ‘The collaborative recognises that not all existing hospital transfusion laboratory
structures may currently meet all of the recommendations. However, hospitals and Trusts will be expected to work
towards these recommendations if transfusion services are reconfigured, as new posts are established or new staff
members are appointed.’
The collaborative’s recommendations, supported by the Chief Medical Officers, provide minimum standards for hospital
transfusion laboratories. They address staffing, technology, training and competence. They are intended to encourage
effective and appropriate use of technology and staff in hospital transfusion laboratories within the framework of
current legislative requirements. They will help hospitals and Trusts to achieve the minimum standards of proficiency
and practice set by the Health Professions Council (2004) 9 and as required by the UK BSQR (as amended). 2
The collaborative recommends that each Trust/hospital should develop an action plan to facilitate compliance with
these recommendations. The collaborative’s recommendations will help hospitals and Trusts to comply with the EWTD
requirements, through the creation of the necessary critical mass of trained and competent staff in transfusion. SHOT
will be evaluating the potential impact on laboratory incidents, and MHRA plan to monitor the recommendations where
applicable to the BSQR.
The recommendations have been published in The Biomedical Scientist 10 and Transfusion Medicine. 11 The article is
available for download as an Open Access article. 12 It is expected that there will be a web-based resource to support
the implementation of and compliance with the recommendations of the laboratory collaborative. Until this is available,
updates on and clarification about these recommendations will be made available to laboratory managers electronically
and will be published in The Biomedical Scientist.
New SHOT website
The SHOT website has been redesigned and made simpler to use, with the aim of it becoming a comprehensive
resource on haemovigilance for the UK. This went live on 30 th March 2010 and has been well received. SHOT now
has control of content management and is able to update and change the site without going through a third party.
There is also a secure login page for the SHOT Steering Group and the Working Expert Group where agendas, minutes,
papers for meetings and draft SHOT report chapters can be posted for download by SG and WEG members. New
material and sections will be added regularly, and suggestions are always welcome.
4. SHOT 2009–2010 11