Driven by changes to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) blood regulations, clinical staff at The Royal London Hospital site can now access blood directly from stock stored in special refrigerators on the wards, without the main blood bank having to prepare and transport specific units, while maintaining full traceability and tracking.
Dispensing blood securely
BloodTrack HemoNine is a locking nine-drawer refrigerator for securely dispensing blood in locations beyond the blood bank (eg operating theatres, A&E, oncology and haematology wards. The HemoNine refrigerator is controlled by the BloodTrack OnDemand kiosk to allocate blood remotely to hospital staff without any interaction of blood bank staff. When blood is required, it is automatically and safely dispensed, assigned and labelled for the specific patient at the HemoNine refrigerator.
Matthew Grantham, transfusion laboratory manager at Barts and The London, says: “BloodTrack HemoNine provides clinical staff with immediate access to blood products as and when required, when patients really need it. We currently have a HemoNine situated in A&E and intensive care on The Royal London site, another HemoNine at The London Chest Hospital, and plans for more systems in operating theatres later this autumn. Everyone thinks the system is brilliant; it is so safe and secure. The nurses love having the ability to issue blood on-demand, especially in A&E where the system sits in the resuscitation area.”
Immediate impact
On The London Chest Hospital site, the installation of the BloodTrack HemoNine refrigerator and OnDemand kiosk has made an immediate impact by dramatically decreasing blood inventory as well as significantly reducing staff time. Before the system was installed, blood was transported by taxi, as required, to the various clinical sites up to two miles away. This process was time-consuming, required laboratory staff and porters to be taken away from other key tasks, and meant that blood products were often over-requested as additional “just in case” units for each procedure.
With the BloodTrack HemoNine system, the hidden costs associated with transporting blood have been reduced significantly, along with the time blood products are out of refrigeration. “We have seen a 60% decrease in the number of units transported to remote clinical sites, and at The London Chest Hospital we have seen a significant reduction in the number of blood units wasted, down by 50%,” explains Matthew Grantham.
Ease of use
Chris Broomhead, consultant anaesthetist at Barts and The London, is very pleased with the effect the installation of the remote blood allocation system has had at The London Chest Hospital. He says: "Since the BloodTrack HemoNine has been introduced, we have reduced our blood usage in cardiothoracic surgery over the last six months by approximately 10%, compared with the same period last year. It has been well received by the clinical staff, all of whom have been impressed by its ease of use. The process of administering blood has become faster and more efficient, with reduced blood wastage."
Matthew Grantham continues: “After working closely with the Olympus patient safety team, we have plans to expand the system further. We are very excited about the larger dispensing blood refrigerator, HemoSafe, which is due to go online soon, and we are also looking at other areas where the Olympus systems are suitable, such as in phlebotomy, pharmacy, breast milk tracking and positive patient identification.”
www.olympuspatientsafety.co.uk