How can we ensure that the right patient gets the right blood at the right time?

The Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report, due in spring 2024, signals a welcome shift towards better blood management for patients. Chief scientific officer of NHS England Sue Hill recently announced pioneering blood group genotyping for inherited anaemias, which should help patients receive better matched blood.1 And in 2022, the national medical director of NHS England Stephen Powis wrote to Trust medical directors recommending the wider use of tranexamic acid to reduce bleeding in surgery.2In the UK, blood is used to provide lifesaving support for around 3500 patients each day,3 but mistakes with transfusions recur, despite numerous warnings from the NHS central patient safety alerting system. The number of deaths related to blood transfusions has more than doubled since the covid-19 pandemic4 and the Serious Hazards of Transfusion group reports that these numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, remaining at or above 35 deaths per annum since 2020.45This is deeply…
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