New Cross gets electronic blood bank management

New Cross Hospital, part of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust has gone live with the latest version of Technidata’s TD BloodBank solution for blood transfusion management.

The updated TD Bloodbank software includes a new sample validation module, positive antibody alerts and blood pack storage facilities.

Mike Herbert, blood bank manager at New Cross Hospital, said the hospital needed a system that could cope with the increased use of blood products anticipated from the opening of a new Heart and Lung Centre, and to be able to meet the requirements of evolving EU and UK regulations on.

The new system has enabled the trust to move to electronic blood issuing as part of the new unit, requiring the trust to focus hard on building up the integrity and security of systems, said Herbert.

Herbert said that the number one issue in managing blood products is ensuring patient safety through correct identification of patients, validating their blood tests and the subsequent results that come back and finally carefully checking that blood products are issued to the right patient.

Technidata say that the new system has been designed to enable hospitals to meet tough EU safety guidelines on blood products, such as vein-to-vein (reception to transfusion) traceability, barcode ID, auditing and storage to transport monitoring.

One important new module in the BloodBank system is the sample reception module, which gives the end user the ability to check a sample with patient data stored in a central BlooodBank database. This can reject a sample if there is any error or ambiguity in a patient’s demographic details. "Correctly identifying the patient is sacrosanct in transfusion," stressed Herbert.

He explained that under the previous system it was still possible for errors in validating a sample of a patient’s blood to not be picked up. "Some of these errors would be completely missed. But with the new system we are now rejecting 3-5% of all tests."

Herbert said that a critical feature of the new system after the initial testing phase is that it contains fail safes that prevent the bloodbank from issuing any products to patients if there is any error or they have not been positively matched up.

If these criteria are not met no product can be issued. "We put it in so it physically stops you from issuing a blood pack, as no label can be printed, and without a label the blood pack can’t be issued."

Key features of the new software includes an enhanced patient record database with de-duplication and merge features, electronic fault auditing and a new analyzer interface for automated sample processing and antibody screening. Upgraded blood handling supports batch products, multiple codes and the ability to measure vials of batch products by strength as well as quantity.

"We reviewed the other solutions on the market, but decided to stay with Technidata for several key reasons. Firstly, they listened closely to our needs and were extremely responsive, customising a solution that would be able to handle both our current and future needs.”

Herbert added that TD BloodBank offers important features not currently available from other vendors, sample validity and screen flagging of special patient needs or positive antibody histories. "Overall, we are confident that TD BloodBank gives us a significant leading edge in patient safety,” he said.

Dave Simm, managing director of Technidata UK, added: “As a technology partner, the New Cross Hospital team have worked closely with us throughout the development of this latest version of TD BloodBank. The result is a proven, tested product that has been specified and driven by customer need."

The BloodBank module forms an integrated module within the Technidata Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), which has been used at New Cross since 1996.

TD BloodBank is fully LIMS-integrated and runs on Windows and Unix platform for a fully scaleable solution ranging from a single desktop application to a complex enterprise environment. Based in Grenoble, France, Technidata has over ten LIMS sites in the UK and 700 implementations worldwide.