Olympus UK has marked the successful implementation of the first UK 'remote allocation' blood issuing system at Abergele Hospital, North Wales NHS Trust in July 2008i
The new system uses BloodTrack OnDemand from Olympus which enables staff to access and monitor blood stocks through remote computer access and intelligent blood storage fridges.
Clinical staff at Abergele Hospital can now directly select blood from stock stored at the hospital without the main blood bank at Glan Clwyd having to release specific units saving time and cost.
BloodTrack OnDemand is described as the world's most advanced blood dispensing system, allowing unallocated blood to be stored outside of the blood bank.
When blood is required, it is automatically and safely dispensed, assigned, and labelled for the specific patient at the refrigerator (HemoSafe and HemoNine) without involving the blood bank.
At Abergele Hospital, the installation of BloodTrack OnDemand has made an immediate impact with dramatically decreased blood inventory as well as significant savings in staff time.
Before OnDemand, visits from a Biomedical Scientist based five miles away at the Glan Clwyd site were necessary up to three times a week to check blood stocks and now this has been reduced to just one visit a week.
Additionally, more blood is available on site for each patient should urgent transfusions be required without the delay of transporting additional units from the main blood bank, demonstrating a far more flexible approach to the supply of blood in large hospitals and rural communities.
"After working closely with the Olympus patient safety team through the validation process we are extremely proud to go live with the first UK remote release blood system at Abergele," commented Rachael Surridge, haematology and blood transfusion laboratory manager at North Wales NHS Trust (Central).
"This installation has already made a tremendous impact here - and just one example is in surgery where they just could not have coped with the increase in workload without the OnDemand System".
OnDemand is part of the BloodTrack patient safety suite from Olympus.
BloodTrack ensures safer blood transfusions by controlling access to blood refrigerators.
This provides the blood bank with the confidence that each blood unit has been properly handled, transported, and stored in a timely fashion.
