A pilot is underway at Royal Bolton Hospital using new technology to support staff who administer patients with blood products such as blood transfusions and platelets.

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust will be using BloodTrack TX, a transfusion software that uses barcodes to ensure the correct blood product is selected from the transfusion fridge and is then safely received by the patient.

The devices record details about the transfusions, important information about the patient, reactions to the transfusion and the identity of staff.

The month-long pilot is currently taking place in the hospital’s Haematology department, before a hospital-wide rollout over the next twelve months.

Dr Josephine McCullagh, Principal Clinical Scientist and Blood Transfusion Clinical Lead at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said:

These devices offer a number of benefits for both staff and patients that allow us to go even further in enhancing patient safety and the quality of care.

“For our nurses, the devices act a second check to verify the right blood is being transfused to the right patient which frees up some of our busy nursing staff to focus on other areas of patient care and daily duties.

“Our patients can also take even more comfort in knowing that the expertise of our nurses and the introduction of digital technology are working hand-in-hand to ensure blood transfusions are even safer.

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is currently celebrating National Pathology Week 2023 (19 – 25 June 2023), which shines the spotlight on staff working in areas such as Haematology and highlights their vital contribution to healthcare in and around Bolton.

The latest figures reveal more than 8,000,000 tests were carried out by Bolton’s laboratory teams in 2022/23, including more than 300,000 point of care tests and more than half a million tests in microbiology.