Mitigating the impact of blood shortages in England.

The supply of blood components and products in sufficient quantities is key to any effective health care system. This report describes the challenges faced by the English blood service, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, which in October 2022 led to an Amber Alert being declared to hospitals indicating an impending blood shortage. The impact on the hospital transfusion services and clinical users is explained. The actions taken by NHSBT to mitigate the blood supply challenges and ensure equity of transfusion support for hospitals in England including revisions to the national blood shortage plans are described. This report focuses on the collaboration and communication between NHSBT, NHS England (NHSE), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), National Blood Transfusion Committee (NBTC), National Transfusion Laboratory Managers Advisory Group for NBTC (NTLM), National Transfusion Practitioners Network, the medical Royal Colleges and clinical colleagues across the NHS.

Chowdhury F ，Estcourt L ，Murphy MF 《-》

Blood shortages planning in Canada: The National Emergency Blood Management Committee experience during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prokopchuk-Gauk O ，Petraszko T ，Nahirniak S ，Doncaster C ，Levy I ... -  《-》

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on blood supplies and transfusion services in Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spurred a global health crisis. The safety and supply of blood during this pandemic has been a concern of blood banks and transfusion services as it is expected to adversely affect blood system activities. We aim to assess the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) during the first months of the pandemic. A survey was designed to address blood supply, transfusion demand, and donor management during the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Medical directors of different blood banks were invited to participate. A total of 16 centers participated with representation from 15/19 countries in the region. In total, 75% were from national blood banks. Most centres had a decrease in the blood supply, ranging from 26-50%. Representatives from 14 countries (93.3%) believed that public fear has contributed to a decrease in donations. Most centres (n=12, 75%) had a reduction in transfusion demand, while those who did not, reported heavy involvement in treating patients with underlying haemoglobinopathies and haematological malignancies. Half of the centres activated their contingency plans. Four centres had to alter the blood donor eligibility criteria to meet demands. All centres implemented donor deferral criteria in relation to SARS-CoV-2, but were variable in measures to mitigate the risk of donor and staff exposure. Blood services in the region faced variable degrees of blood shortages. We summarize lessons learnt during this pandemic for the blood banks to consider to plan, assess, and respond proportionately to future similar pandemics.

Al-Riyami AZ ，Abdella YE ，Badawi MA ，Panchatcharam SM ，Ghaleb Y ，Maghsudlu M ，Satti M ，Lahjouji K ，Merenkov Z ，Adwan A ，Feghali R ，Gebril N ，Hejress S ，Hmida S ，AlHumaidan H ，Jamal D ，Najjar O ，Raouf M ... -  《-》

Transfusion 2024: A 5-year plan for clinical and laboratory transfusion in England.

The Transfusion 2024 plan outlines key priorities for clinical and laboratory transfusion practice for safe patient care across the NHS for the next 5 years. It is based on the outcomes of a multi-professional symposium held in March 2019, organised by the National Blood Transfusion Committee (NBTC) and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), attended and supported by Professor Keith Willet and Dame Sue Hill on behalf of NHS England and Improvement. This best practice guidance contained within this publication will facilitate the necessary change in pathway design to meet the transfusion challenges and pressures for the restoration of a cohesive, and functional, healthcare system across the NHS following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Allard S ，Cort J ，Howell C ，Sherliker L ，Miflin G ，Toh CH ... -  《-》

Triage tool for the rationing of blood for massively bleeding patients during a severe national blood shortage: guidance from the National Blood Transfusion Committee.

The emerging COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare resources worldwide, and for transfusion services this could potentially result in rapid imbalance between supply and demand due to a severe shortage of blood donors. This may result in insufficient blood components to meet every patient's needs resulting in difficult decisions about which patients with major bleeding do and do not receive active transfusion support. This document, which was prepared on behalf of the National Blood Transfusion Committee in England, provides a framework and triage tool to guide the allocation of blood for patients with massive haemorrhage during severe blood shortage. Its goal is to provide blood transfusions in an ethical, fair, and transparent way to ensure that the greatest number of life years are saved. It is based on an evidence- and ethics-based Canadian framework, and would become operational where demand for blood greatly exceeds supply, and where all measures to manage supply and demand have been exhausted. The guidance complements existing national shortage plans for red cells and platelets.

Doughty H ，Green L ，Callum J ，Murphy MF ，National Blood Transfusion Committee ... -  《-》