Welcome to BBT Toolkit

The Department of Health has issued a new Health Service Circular (HSC 2007/001) Better Blood Transfusion - Safe and Appropriate Use of Blood.

This Health Service Circular sets out a new programme of action for NHS Trusts and NHS Blood and Transplant to:

1. Build on the success of the two previous Better Blood Transfusion initiatives (in 1998 and 2002) to further improve the safety and effectiveness of transfusion
2. Avoid the unnecessary use of blood and blood components (fresh frozen plasma and platelets) in medical and surgical practice
3. Avoid unnecessary blood transfusion in obstetric practice and minimise the risk of haemolytic disease of the newborn
4. Increase patient and public involvement in blood transfusion

The Health Service Circular provides an action plan to be completed in the next 5 years, and indicates that progress will be audited annually.

An updated Toolkit is now available to support the implementation of the action plan. Please use the left menu to navigate through the toolkit.

Catherine Howell
Chair – Toolkit Working Group