Serious blood delivery failures

By Catherine Reilly.   Patients’ transfusion needs at St Vincent’s, Connolly and Beaumont hospitals late last year could have been compromised by serious failures in the blood product delivery process that resulted in 40 units of red cells having to be discarded, reveals correspondence from the Chief Executive of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) to the HSE’s National Director for Acute Services, Ian Carter.   The letter from Andrew Kelly, dated December 4, 2013, and obtained by IMT under Freedom of Information legislation, warned Carter that immediate action was required by the HSE “before there is a major incident”…