Jump to content

Search the hub

Showing results for tags 'Blood / blood products'.

More search options

  • Search By Tags

    Start to type the tag you want to use, then select from the list.

  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • All
    • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Culture
    • Improving patient safety
    • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Leadership for patient safety
    • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Patient engagement
    • Patient safety in health and care
    • Patient Safety Learning
    • Professionalising patient safety
    • Research, data and insight
    • Miscellaneous

Categories

  • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Commissioning and funding patient safety
    • Digital health and care service provision
    • Health records and plans
    • Innovation programmes in health and care
    • Climate change/sustainability
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Blogs
    • Data, research and statistics
    • Frontline insights during the pandemic
    • Good practice and useful resources
    • Guidance
    • Mental health
    • Exit strategies
    • Patient recovery
    • Questions around Government governance
  • Culture
    • Bullying and fear
    • Good practice
    • Occupational health and safety
    • Safety culture programmes
    • Second victim
    • Speak Up Guardians
    • Staff safety
    • Whistle blowing
  • Improving patient safety
    • Clinical governance and audits
    • Design for safety
    • Disasters averted/near misses
    • Equipment and facilities
    • Error traps
    • Health inequalities
    • Human factors (improving human performance in care delivery)
    • Improving systems of care
    • Implementation of improvements
    • International development and humanitarian
    • Patient Safety Alerts
    • Safety stories
    • Stories from the front line
    • Workforce and resources
  • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Investigations and complaints
    • Risk management and legal issues
  • Leadership for patient safety
    • Business case for patient safety
    • Boards
    • Clinical leadership
    • Exec teams
    • Inquiries
    • International reports
    • National/Governmental
    • Patient Safety Commissioner
    • Quality and safety reports
    • Techniques
    • Other
  • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Government and ALB direction and guidance
    • International patient safety
    • Regulators and their regulations
  • Patient engagement
    • Consent and privacy
    • Harmed care patient pathways/post-incident pathways
    • How to engage for patient safety
    • Keeping patients safe
    • Patient-centred care
    • Patient Safety Partners
    • Patient stories
  • Patient safety in health and care
    • Care settings
    • Conditions
    • Diagnosis
    • High risk areas
    • Learning disabilities
    • Medication
    • Mental health
    • Men's health
    • Patient management
    • Social care
    • Transitions of care
    • Women's health
  • Patient Safety Learning
    • Patient Safety Learning campaigns
    • Patient Safety Learning documents
    • Patient Safety Standards
    • 2-minute Tuesdays
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2018
    • Patient Safety Learning Awards 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Interviews
    • Patient Safety Learning webinars
  • Professionalising patient safety
    • Accreditation for patient safety
    • Competency framework
    • Medical students
    • Patient safety standards
    • Training & education
  • Research, data and insight
    • Data and insight
    • Research
  • Miscellaneous

News

  • News

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start
    End

Last updated

  • Start
    End

Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End

Group

First name

Last name

Country

Join a private group (if appropriate)

About me

Organisation

Role

Found 151 results
  1. Content Article
    This editorial in The Lancet Infectious Diseases reflects on the consequences of the infected blood scandal, in which more than 30,000 people in the UK were infected after receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. It examines the systems in place for blood donation and transfusion in low and middle income countries (LMICs) and argues that the chance of a blood scandal coming to light in LMICs is much higher. This is because blood donations in many LMICs go against the WHO recommendation of national blood systems being based on blood supply from voluntary donors. Instead, they rely heavily on paid-for donations and family or replacement donations, which are unsafe due to the higher prevalence of bloodborne infections.
  2. News Article
    An appeal has been launched for O blood-type donors to book appointments across England after the ransomware attack affecting major London hospitals. NHS Blood and Transplant is appealing for O blood-type donations as this is safe to use for all patients. The cyber-attack means the affected hospitals cannot match patients’ blood at the same frequency as usual. Several London hospitals last week declared a critical incident, cancelled operations and tests, and were unable to carry out blood transfusions after the attack on the pathology firm Synnovis, which Qilin, a Russian group of cybercriminals, is thought to have been behind. Memos to NHS staff at King’s College hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ (including the Royal Brompton and the Evelina London Children’s hospital) and primary care services in London said a critical incident had been declared. NHS Blood and Transplant is calling for O-positive and O-negative blood donors to book appointments in one of the 25 NHS blood donor centres in England to boost stocks. The hospitals affected by the cyber-attack cannot match patients’ blood at the same frequency as usual, NHS Blood and Transplant said. For surgeries and procedures requiring blood to take place, hospitals need to use O-type blood as this is safe to use for all patients. Blood has a shelf life of 35 days, so stocks need to be continually replenished, the NHS said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 June 2024
  3. Content Article
    In this blog, Laura Green, Consultant Haematologist at NHS Blood and Transplant and Barts Health NHS Trust, describes how a new electronic process to improve the safety of blood transfusions was implemented across all four Barts Health sites. She explains why the new system was needed, outlines the benefits for staff and patients and highlights the role of project governance and staff training in successful implementation.
  4. Content Article
    In this long read, inews health correspondent Paul Gallagher looks at the processes now in place to ensure patient safety in blood transfusions and mitigate the risk of another infected blood scandal. He talks to Will Irving, Professor of Virology at the University of Nottingham, who outlines at although the risk is low, there may be transmission risks associated with blood transfusions that we are not yet aware of. The article also describes the work of the Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT) committee, which has been collecting and analysing anonymised information on adverse events and reactions in blood transfusion from all healthcare organisations that are involved in the transfusion of blood and blood components in the UK since 1996.
  5. Content Article
    This is the transcript of a statement in the House of Commons by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, John Glen MP, in response to the publication of the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry. He sets out plans for a proposed scheme to provide compensation to those infected and affected by this scandal. This was followed by comments from other members of the House of Commons.
  6. Content Article
    This is the transcript of a statement in the House of Commons by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak MP, in response to the publication of the final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry. He apologises for the failure in blood policy and blood products, the repeated failure of the state and medical professionals to recognise the harm caused by this and for the institutional refusal to face up to these failings. He also says that the Government will pay comprehensive compensation to those infected and affected by this scandal. This statement is followed by a response from the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer MP, and comments from other members of the House of Commons.
  7. Content Article
    In vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices are used to examine samples taken from the human body and to diagnose and monitor health conditions. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are seeking views on a new policy would require manufacturers to comply with additional measures for certain high risk IVDs, such as blood tests used to identify blood type before transfusions or tests which identify life-threatening diseases, introducing harmonised requirements for these products. The consultation closes at 11.59pm on 14 June 2024.
  8. Content Article
    The intended audience for these guidelines from the World Health Organization, is clinicians (doctors, nurses, Infection Prevention Control professionals, etc.) involved in the management of patients who require intravascular catheters. However, to ensure an appropriate, practical, clinical adherence to the guidelines, hospital administrators and other professionals involved in health care need to understand their importance and the focus of the recommendations to ensure appropriate support for clinicians. Patients are also part of the audience of these guidelines as they need to be generally informed about practices performed for their care and, in some cases, understand the choice of the intervention(s).
  9. News Article
    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apologised for the infection of around 30,000 people with contaminated blood products, and the failure to address the problem. Mr Sunak accepted the findings of Sir Brian Langstaff's inquiry report: "Was there a cover-up? Let me directly quote him - there has been". Watch the recording Source: BBC News, 20 May 2024
  10. Content Article
    Hugh Pym and Chloe Hayward speak about the Infected Blood Inquiry in this 30 minute piece from the BBC, one of the worst treatment disasters in NHS history. 
  11. Content Article
    More than 30,000 people were infected from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions provided by the NHS. It is estimated that more than 3,000 deaths are attributable to infected blood, products and tissue. This report sets out the findings of a five-year investigation by the Infected Blood Inquiry. The principal infections considered by the Inquiry are Hepatitis (B and C) and HIV. The transmission of vCJD is also considered.
  12. News Article
    A piece of equipment known as a vein finder is being used for inpatients at Ysbyty Gwynedd in order to improve the experience for patients with hard-to-find veins. Anyone who has difficult veins will know the discomfort when there are failed attempts to locate a vein, such as when having bloods taken. Having noticed the need to improve the experience for patients with difficult veins, Junior Doctor Lois Williams secured a £3,000 grant from Health Education and Improvement Wales and around £600 from Menter Môn to purchase the equipment through the Trainees Transforming Training initiative. Dr Williams said: “We’ve been very lucky to obtain a grant to purchase a vein finder and we hope this will empower nurses, phlebotomists, medical students and junior doctors to take blood and cannulate from patients who are difficult to obtain access. It works by infrared, which can bounce back and show us visibility of the vein which you cannot do with the naked eye. It also helps to reduce the time we need to attempt cannulating patients and how often we might need to cannulate them because of failed attempts, which can be quite distressing for some patients. Our hope is that this will improve the quality of patient care in the future.” Read full story Source: NHS Wales, 30 April 2024
  13. News Article
    Bereaved families who lost loved ones in the contaminated blood scandal have claimed their relatives were being “used for research” after discovering historic notes in medical records. It is claimed that some patients being treated for the blood clotting disorder haemophilia in the 1970s and 1980s were given blood plasma treatment which doctors knew might be contaminated and infect them with hepatitis. They wanted to study the links between the haemophilia treatment Factor VIII and the risk of infection, but a number of families have claimed their loved ones were enrolled in these studies without their knowledge or consent. The Factor 8 campaign group alleges that instead of stopping treatment, clinicians lobbied to continue trials, even after identifying the association between hepatitis and the treatment. Jason Evans, director of the campaign group, found notes alluding to the research in his father’s medical records. He has since found other families who have discovered the same notes in the records of their loved ones. Mr Evans, whose father died in 1993 after being infected with both HIV and hepatitis C during the course of his treatment for haemophilia, said: “It is appalling that hundreds of people with haemophilia across the country were knowingly infected with lethal viruses under the guise of scientific research. These secret experiments, conducted without consent, show individuals were treated as mere test subjects, not human beings." Read full story Source: Independent, 9 May 2024
  14. News Article
    A study cited at the infected blood inquiry as evidence that the devastating consequences of blood products contaminated with hepatitis could not have been foreseen, misrepresented the results of a trial in making its case, according to the Guardian. Up to 6,520 people are believed to have been infected with hepatitis C through imported factor VIII blood products in the 1970s and 80s, while a further 26,800 are estimated to have been infected with the virus though blood transfusions. About 2,000 people are estimated to have died as a result. The inquiry, which publishes its final report on 20 May, heard that the medical profession considered non-A and non-B hepatitis (later known as hepatitis C) as “relatively benign” at the time, with Pier Mannuccio Mannucci’s 2003 paper, 'Aids, hepatitis and haemophilia in the 1980s: memoirs from an insider', quoted in support of this proposition. Mannucci’s 2003 paper argued that the view held by “the great majority of haemophilia treaters was that the problem of hepatitis was a tolerable one, because the benefits of concentrates seemed to outweigh risks”. In making his argument, Mannucci cited his own work, writing: “A prospective biopsy study was undertaken by me … in 10 haemophiliacs with non-A, non-B chronic hepatitis followed up for more than six years. The study, published in 1982, demonstrated no case of progression towards cirrhosis or haepatocellular carcinoma.” However, the original 1982 report says that there were actually 11–not 10–people included in the study and “one patient with active cirrhosis died of liver failure during the follow-up period”. Who knew what about the risks and when is a key plank of the inquiry. Read full story Source: Guardian, 2 May 2024
  15. Content Article
    Children being subjected to lethal medical experiments sounds like the plot of a dystopian horror film. Yet that is exactly what happened in the UK in the 1970s and 80s. New documents seen last week by the BBC reveal the extent to which children with haemophilia and other blood clotting disorders were enrolled in clinical trials, often without their parents’ consent. Most of them were infected with HIV or hepatitis C as a result of being treated with blood products that doctors knew could kill them. At one boarding school for boys with haemophilia used by the doctors conducting these trials, Treloar College in Hampshire, 75 out of the 122 pupils who attended between 1974 and 1987 have died as a result of their HIV or hepatitis C infections. The independent inquiry on the contaminated blood scandal estimated that 1,250 people contracted both HIV and hepatitis C as a result of these agents, and between 2,400 and 5,000 people hepatitis C alone. Others contracted these viruses after receiving blood transfusions following surgery or childbirth; it is thought that up to 100 people were infected with HIV this way, and 27,000 people with hepatitis C. Around 2,900 people have died so far. One gets a sense of the horrific trauma the state inflicted on people by reading the evidence those affected gave the inquiry.
  16. News Article
    The true scale of the number of medical trials using infected blood products on children in the 1970s and 80s has been revealed by documents seen by BBC News. They reveal a secret world of unsafe clinical testing involving children in the UK, as doctors placed research goals ahead of patients' needs. They continued for more than 15 years, involved hundreds of people, and infected most with hepatitis C and HIV. The trials involved children with blood clotting disorders, when families had often not consented to them taking part. The majority of the children who enrolled are now dead. Documents also show that doctors in haemophilia centres across the country used blood products, even though they were widely known as likely to be contaminated. Luke O'Shea-Phillips, 42, has mild haemophilia - a blood clotting disorder that means he bruises and bleeds more easily than most. He caught the potentially lethal viral infection hepatitis C while being treated at the Middlesex Hospital, in central London, which was administered because of a small cut to his mouth, aged three, in 1985. Documents seen by the BBC suggest he was deliberately given the blood product - which his doctor knew might have been infected - so he could be enrolled in a clinical trial. Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 April 2024
  17. News Article
    The British government was willing to risk infecting NHS patients to get “lower-priced” blood products, according to a document that campaigners claim proves state and corporate guilt in one of the country’s worst ever scandals. A public inquiry into the deaths of an estimated 2,900 people infected with conditions such as HIV and hepatitis will publish its final report in May, four decades after the NHS started prescribing blood and blood products – including from drug users, prisoners and sex workers – sourced from the USA. Within the thousands of documents disclosed to the inquiry, internal company minutes have emerged that campaigners say provide the final compelling piece of evidence of the commercial greed and state negligence that destroyed thousands of lives. In November 1976, Immuno AG, an Austrian company that was a major supplier to the Department of Health, was seeking a licence change to allow it to supply a blood product from those paid to donate in the US rather than donors without a financial incentive in Europe. According to the minutes of a meeting of medics in the company, it had been “proven” that there was a “significantly higher hepatitis risk” from a concentrate known as Kryobulin 2 made from US plasma compared with that from Austria and Germany. The company had concluded there was a “preference” in the UK for the cheaper US option. The memo of the meeting said: “Kryobulin 2 will be significantly cheaper than Kryobulin 1 because the British market will accept a higher risk of hepatitis for a lower-priced product. In the long-term, Kryobulin 1 will disappear from the British market.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 April 2024
  18. Content Article
    In this blog, Jo Jerrome, CEO of Thrombosis UK, explains the dangers of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and why it is important for patients and staff to be aware of the risk factors. Jo offers advice on how we can all manage our risk of DVT, and introduces their award-winning, free patient app – “Let’s talk clots”.  
  19. Content Article
    Intravenous therapy is an essential aspect of modern healthcare. While the benefits of using intravenous therapy usually outweigh the risks, occasionally the administration of IV therapies can go wrong. Infiltration and extravasation is a complication whereby the drug or IV therapy leaks into the tissues surrounding the vascular access device. This toolkit, developed by the National Infusion and Vascular Access Society (NIVAS), is intended to enable local services and healthcare organisations to implement polices, protocols and guidelines that will increase awareness about non-chemotherapy extravasations.
  20. Content Article
    SHOT is the UK’s independent, professionally-led haemovigilance scheme. It collects and analyses anonymised information on adverse events and reactions in blood transfusion from all healthcare organisations that are involved in the transfusion of blood and blood components in the United Kingdom. This document contains updated information on reporting categories and what to report to the scheme.
  21. News Article
    The publication of a final report into the infected blood scandal has been delayed until May. The chairman of the public inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said more time was needed to prepare "a report of this gravity". Victims and their families were initially told they would learn the findings in autumn last year. That date was pushed back until March, and the inquiry has now confirmed the further delay to 20 May 2024. "I am sorry to tell you that the report will be published later than March. That is not what I had intended," added Sir Brian. "When I reviewed the plans for publication, I nonetheless had to accept that a limited amount of further time is needed to publish a report of this gravity and do justice to what has happened." It is thought about 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. More than 3,000 have died in what has been described by MPs as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history. Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 January 2024 Further reading on the hub: UK Infected Blood Inquiry
  22. News Article
    MPs have backed a move to speed up compensation for victims of the NHS infected blood scandal, delivering the prime minister his first Commons defeat. Ministers will now have to set up a body to run the scheme within three months of a new bill becoming law. The vote was passed by 246 votes to 242 after 22 Conservatives rebelled. The Haemophilia Society said Rishi Sunak "should be ashamed" he had been forced "to do the right thing". Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 December 2023
  23. News Article
    The government faces a rebellion with at least 30 Tories backing an amendment to extend interim payouts to more victims of the infected blood scandal. Up to 30,000 people were given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s. Thousands have died. A Labour amendment will be brought on Monday calling for a new body to be set up to administer compensation. More than 100 MPs, including Tories Sir Robert Buckland, Sir Edward Leigh and David Davis, are backing the move. In a letter sent to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves called the scandal "one of the most appalling tragedies in our country's recent history." She added: "Blood infected with hepatitis C and HIV has stolen life, denied opportunities and harmed livelihoods." She praised Theresa May, who set up the Infected Blood Inquiry when she was prime minister in 2017. But she warned: "For the victims, time matters. It is estimated that every four days someone affected by infected blood dies." The chancellor, himself a former health secretary, told the inquiry in July that the government accepted the moral case for compensation. But he said no final decisions could be made before the inquiry publishes its findings - now expected in March next year. In August 2022, the government agreed to make the first interim compensation payments of £100,000 each to about 4,000 surviving victims and bereaved widows. But inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff, said in April this year that the parents and children of victims should also receive compensation and also called for a full compensation scheme to be set up immediately. The Commons Speaker will decide on Monday which amendments to the bill MPs will vote on. But the government has said it will not be supporting the amendment. A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We are deeply sympathetic to the strength of feeling on this and understand the need for action. However, it would not be right to pre-empt the findings of the final report into infected blood." Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 December 2023
  24. News Article
    Opt-out blood tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C will be rolled out to a further 46 hospitals across England, the government has announced. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins said the new £20m programme would lead to earlier diagnoses and treatment. Under the scheme, anyone having a blood test in selected hospital A&E units has also been tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, unless they opted out. The trials have been taking place for the last 18 months in 33 hospitals in London, Greater Manchester, Sussex and Blackpool, where prevalence is classed by the NHS as "very high". Figures released by the NHS earlier show those pilots have identified more than 3,500 cases of the three bloodborne infections since April 2022, including more than 580 HIV cases. Ms Atkins said: "The more people we can diagnose, the more chance we have of ending new transmissions of the virus and the stigma wrongly attached to it." She added that rolling out the tests to more hospitals would help ensure early diagnoses so people "can be given the support and the medical treatment they need to live not just longer lives but also higher quality lives". Read full story Source: BBC News, 29 November 2023
  25. Content Article
    Download the free Let’s Talk Clots patient information app from Thrombosis UK, and help reduce your risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism in hospital.
×
×
  • Create New...