Patient Blood Management

Patient blood management (PBM) is an approach to managing and preserving an individual's own blood.

Patient Blood Management (PBM) recognises people’s own blood as a vital resource and supports the promotion and maintenance of blood health.

We do this by applying best practices for managing anaemia, bleeding, and coagulation, and by optimising strategies to reduce the need for transfusion.

By prioritising prevention and individualised care, PBM supports safer, more efficient, and sustainable healthcare practices centered on overall blood health.

PBM also helps protect the valuable gift of donated blood components and facilitates their appropriate use.

The resources on these pages are intended to support healthcare providers implementing PBM initiatives and raise awareness of why it matters to everyone.

YouTube video about the Patient Blood Management England team

Video transcript

Who are Patient Blood Management England?

Patient Blood Management England is a team of specialist Nurses, Midwives, Doctors, Healthcare Scientists and Administrators, with teams based in each of the seven NHS England regions.

We are involved in all aspects of blood management, from supporting hospitals with optimising a patient's own blood, to using data to smartly manage inventories of donor blood.

How do we achieve this?

Patient blood management is a patient-centered means of protecting and optimising a patient's own blood.

We promote best practice for the management of anaemia, bleeding and coagulation, as well as alternatives to transfusion, such as cell salvage.

Our work includes more than Patient Blood Management...

We are also invested in patient safety and the appropriate use of donor blood; providing support and education around transfusion when there are no available alternatives.

We work closely with NHS Trusts and other healthcare Providers across England, providing specialist advice and a programme of support, education, audit and research.

By building relationships with these teams, we aim to achieve a coordinated approach to improving patient care.

Who else do we work with?

We work alongside other organisations involved in patient blood management and blood transfusion, including the wider team at NHS Blood and Transplant, the National Blood Transfusion Committee, Serious Hazards of Transfusion UK, universities, and our colleagues in the other UK blood services.

Through these collaborations, we aim to deliver a holistic approach to blood management, keeping the patient at the centre of all decisions about their care.

PBM England YouTube

Education and information

Education for healthcare professionals

Our online educational content can be found here, including e-learning, Blood Essentials, and information about the Blood Transfusion Education and Discussion Group (BTEDG) and non-medical authorisation (NMA) course.

Access our courses here

Patient information leaflets

Our information leaflets are available in a variety of accessible formats to support your conversations, enabling people to make informed decisions about their care.

See all leaflets

Tools, apps and resources

Resources to support safe practice

Explore our range of resources to promote safety and continuous improvement, including Blood Essentials, the QS138 Quality Insights tool and Blood Assist.

Find resources here

Implementing patient blood management

Information about core patient blood management (PBM) initiatives to support best practice, including the PBM toolkit.

More about PBM

Appropriate use of blood components

Resources to support the appropriate use of blood components, including platelets, O D positive and O D negative red cells, and single unit transfusion strategies.

Discover more

Identify and manage anaemia

Best practice approaches to reducing iatrogenic anaemia (hospital-acquired), managing obstetric, preoperative and nutritional deficiency anaemias.

Access anaemia resources

Get in touch

Please contact us if you would like further information about anything on the Patient Blood Management pages. We aim to respond within 5 working days.

Email us at: pbm.team@nhsbt.nhs.uk

Page last reviewed: August 2026