Blood bank urged to safeguard products

THE State’s body charged with protecting public health has asked the blood bank to introduce a range of measures so all products for patients with severely impaired immune systems are safe.

The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) proposed a range of corrective measures after it was discovered around 370 patients may have received incorrectly prepared blood products manufactured at the Irish Blood Transfusion Service’s (IBTS) Cork Centre.

Incorrectly irradiated blood products were given to unborn and premature babies and cancer patients in the Munster region between August 2003 and April 2004.

All of the patients have defective immune systems and can develop a reaction to a transfusion if the blood is not properly irradiated.

Such a reaction is usually fatal.

But the IBTS said it had checked 96% of the relevant patient’s medical charts and that no adverse events relating to the transfusion of irradiated blood product had been recorded.

In April this year an IBTS review found blood products at the Cork centre had been ‘marginally under-irradiated’.

A separate inspection by the IMB last December found products had been marginally over-irradiated.

Over-irradiation of blood makes it useless because the cells are destroyed.

It does not pose a risk to patients.

A spokesperson for the IBTS confirmed its review would be sent to the IMB when completed.

The IMB conducts two reviews of the Cork centre every year and is in the process of completing its own investigation of how the products came to be incorrectly prepared.

A spokesperson for the IMB said it would be “preemptive” to release the report’s findings before it was finalised.

“The IBTS has an opportunity of further commenting and reporting on the range of corrective measures the IMB requested to be undertaken,” said the spokeswoman.

The IBTS said steps had been taken to ensure such incidents did not happen again.

Meanwhile, a report by the National Blood Strategy Implementation Group (NBSIG) said the way hospitals and doctors ordered and transfused blood could be improved.

In some instances, patients were getting two pints of blood when one might have been enough.

The report also found hospitals, particularly smaller, rural hospitals, had a “higher than desirable” rate of out-of-date blood stocks.

Over 8% were out of date.

The report, due to be published later this year, is expected to be adopted as Government policy.