Education for healthcare professionals

Education, for healthcare professionals, patients and the public is a fundamental element of patient blood management and improving blood health. This page, designed for healthcare professionals, gives access to our digital education resources, including Blood Essentials, e-learning and the non-medical authorisation (NMA) course.

Blood Essentials

An interactive PDF designed to be the key blood transfusion education and reference tool for transfusion practitioners, it can also support and assist any healthcare professional involved in the transfusion process.

Download Blood Essentials (PDF 12MB)

Give your feedback on Blood Essentials

Events and training resources

Blood Transfusion Education and Discussion Group

The Patient Blood Management team hosts the Blood Transfusion Education and Discussion Group (BTEDG), a monthly online education and discussion event.

This link will open in a new window.

Find out more on the NBTC website

National Blood Transfusion Committee events

Information about the National Blood Transfusion Committee (NBTC) facilitated education events, including their rolling transfusion education programme can be found on their education website.

This link will open in a new window.

Find out more about NBTC events

Transfusion Training Hub

The Transfusion Training Hub, hosted on the NBTC website, provides links to existing resources collated to support education and training for healthcare professionals working in blood transfusion.

This link will open in a new window.

Go to the Transfusion Training Hub

Major Haemorrhage Simulation Toolkit

This toolkit provides guidance for running major haemorrhage (MH) simulations. It explains a range of simulation methods and offers tips for planning, delivery and debriefing.

This link will open in a new window.

Go to the MH toolkit on the SHOT website

e-Learning

NHS England have advised us that they are unable to provide a specific date for the move of NHSBT content on elfh to the NHS Learning Zone. A two-week advance notice will be provided, and we will publish this date as soon as possible after notification.

Further information can be found in:

Information about our e-learning modules is listed below. You can access these through the following platforms:

Blood Transfusion Training

The modules available on this topic are:

Essential transfusion practice
Good manufacturing practice (GMP)
Consent
Transfusion reactions
Blood components
Cell salvage
Introduction to safer transfusion laboratory practice
Use of anti-D immunoglobulin in pregnancy

Haemovigilance modules produced by Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT) are available on the NHSBT Learning Zone.

Anaemia

Maternal anaemia

Blood component use in major haemorrhage

Resources

Videos

Many supplementary training videos can be found on our PBM England YouTube channel, including the following made in collaboration with the UK and Ireland Blood Transfusion Network, and SHOT teams:

Publications

Learning for real life: patient-focused interprofessional workshops offer added value. Kilminster, S. and others, 2004. Medical Education
Understanding Medical Education: Evidence, Theory, and Practice. Editor(s):Tim Swanwick, Kirsty Forrest, Bridget C. O'Brien. © 2019 The Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME)
Competency-Based Postgraduate Training: Can We Bridge the Gap between Theory and Clinical Practice? - PubMed
Trust, competence, and the supervisor's role in postgraduate training - PubMed
Entrustment Decisions: bringing the patient Into the assessment equation - Academic Medicine

Non-medical authorisation of blood components course

The non-medical authorisation of blood components (NMA) course is for registered and regulated healthcare professionals. It provides education on the fundamentals of clinical transfusion practice needed to authorise blood components, as described in the UK and Ireland Blood Transfusion Network framework. For further information on this course, including the course outline, dates and application details, see the clinical courses webpage.

Clinical decision-making and authorising blood component transfusion: A framework to support non medical healthcare professionals on the JPAC website
Examples of regional policies and competency documents on the National Blood Transfusion Committee website:
- North East and Yorkshire Regional Transfusion Committee
- Midlands Regional Transfusion Committee

Share your feedback

If you have any questions or suggestions about the resources on this page, please email the Patient Blood Management team.

Page last reviewed: August 2026