Emergency preparedness, resilience and response guidance for hospital transfusion teams

Hospital transfusion teams have an important role in ensuring continuity of transfusion support during major incidents. Teams should be prepared based on their local Trust plans and national guidance. The new document

Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) for UK Hospital Transfusion Teams (2020) provides updated guidance on behalf of the National Blood Transfusion Committee emergency planning working group. 

Other resources include:

Gap analysis template to support hospital transfusion preparedness

The transfusion guidance is linked to the NHS England Clinical guidelines for major incidents and mass casualty events. This clinical guidance document was first published 24 December 2018 and may be found in the Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response part of the NHS England website. It has been developed with the occasional trauma team in mind, for example, surgeons in a trauma unit who need to treat a deteriorating P2 patient, or a P1 patient who has been conveyed to the trauma unit, during a major incident response.

Drs H Doughty  & F Chowdhury, Consultants in Transfusion Medicine