National Transport Operations Department
The department is very much the engine room of the transport department and employs circa 400 staff, and is made up of driving / administration / managerial staff.
Two national managers manage this department and the country is divided geographically north and south.
Transport operations is involved at every stage af the supply chain, from ensuring that products from the warehouse are distributed to the users i.e. collection teams / laboratories. Members of the collection team and their equipment are transported to session, collected blood is returned to the processing centre for manufacture. And the last stage in the supply chain is distribution to the patient via the hospital.
Following on from a successful overhaul of terms and conditions new working patterns have been introduced and 24 / 7 working are the norm in line with our customers needs and working patterns. This includes 24hr availability of Emergency Response Drivers.
These changes proved invaluable during the London Bombings where Transport Operations ensured the efficient delivery of blood products and tissue to the hospitals dealing with the casualties.
Transport Operations delivers to approximately 280 hospitals throughout the UK and North Wales on a daily basis, this equates to around 2,700 deliveries per week and a weekly average of 51,000 units of blood.
As a department Transport operations is acutely aware that our drivers are the ambassadors of NHSBT as they are the only members of staff that come into direct contact with the end user the hospitals. We have embarked on improving the service that we provide and have set up a customer service team.
The team will explore new initiatives to improve the service in line with our customer demands. We will soon be trialing second run initiatives at some of our sites with the intention of reducing the number of ad-hoc deliveries which will result in reduced costs for both hospitals and the transport department alike.
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