Therapeutic Apheresis Services (TAS) Annual Review 2020 / 21

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is a major provider of Therapeutic Apheresis Services (TAS) in the NHS. We provide adults and children with apheresis treatments from eight sites. At the end of each financial year, we complete a review of our key achievements and priorities for the year ahead.

We are delighted to share our 2020 - 21 review (PDF 618KB) with you.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, TAS were proud to continue treating patients not only in hospitals where we routinely provide services, but also for over 150 patients from other Hospitals who struggled during the pandemic. Some of our key achievements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were:

• Regional teams working nationally to ensure appropriate levels of staffing in each unit to meet patient demand were most needed

• The relocation of two of our TAS units (one unit on three separate occasions) to accommodate the reconfiguration of Trust services in their efforts to meet changing patient flows demanded by COVID

• The introduction of flexible working hours and service delivery to provide extended working days and weekend working to achieve COVID-19 secure units

• Introduction of satellite services to ensure patients had more localised access to treatment – for example, the introduction of an extracorporeal photopheresis service in Cardiff and the provision of a stem cell collection centre service for donors from the Anthony Nolan Registry in Oxford.

We are grateful to those we have collaborated with over the past year who have supported these achievements, and look forward to continuing to work closely together to deliver the best services for patients. Please email TherapeuticApheresisServices@nhsbt.nhs.uk if you have any feedback relating to this report, or any wider queries regarding our services.

Catherine Howell OBE, Chief Nurse for Diagnostics and Therapeutic Apheresis Services