The SHOT news document provides guidance for reporting instances where transfusion would have been clinically appropriate but could not be given due to lack of availability of a suitable component during recognised blood shortages.
NHSBT have declared an amber alert effective immediately for O group stocks. Following
the cyber-attacks on London hospitals and after several days of low O neg stocks, NHS
Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has issued an Amber level alert for O group stocks asking
hospitals to restrict the use of O type blood to essential cases and use substitutions where
clinically safe to do so.
The alert come into force yesterday (Thursday 25 July) and will be kept under constant
review. This is different to the previous Amber alert issued by NHSBT in 2022 which was
across all blood groups and was due to a lack of capacity. This time they are seeing
hospitals needing more blood components than expected and high numbers of unfilled
appointments at blood donor centres and O negative and O positive donors are asked to
urgently book and fill appointments at donor centres.
Guidelines for use and shortage plans for blood components in an amber alert are
available on the National Blood Transfusion Committee website: Recommendations |
National Blood Transfusion Committee
An Amber Alert is an important part of the NHS’s business continuity plan for blood stocks.
It triggers hospitals being able to:
- implement their emergency measures to minimise usage;
- move staff to laboratories to vet the use of all O type blood; and
- use patient blood management systems to minimise use of O type blood.
For more information and updates, please visit NHS Blood and Transplant Blood Stock
Status webpage.
Hospitals should report adverse incidents in patients through local governance
systems, SHOT, SABRE and also with NHSBT as appropriate.
The SHOT reporting definitions document provides guidance for reporting instances where
transfusion would have been clinically appropriate but could not be given due to lack of
availability of a suitable component during recognised blood shortages.
Amber-alert-news-item-for-the-SHOT-website-26-July-2024 (426kB pdf)