Blood and blood products include:

• fresh products such as whole blood, red cells, platelets, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate and cryo-depleted plasma;
• plasma-derived products such as albumin, immunoglobulins and clotting factors;
• recombinant (manufactured) products such as clotting factors; and
• diagnostic reagent products for laboratory testing and screening.

We have a role in national policy development through membership of the Jurisdictional Blood Committee.

At a state level we are responsible for facilitating the adoption of the National Stewardship Principles, which promote responsible, sustainable and appropriate use of blood and blood products.

We have developed a mandatory Blood Supply Stewardship Policy Directive. This policy directive is applicable to all SA Health services that receive blood and blood products, including, but not limited to hospitals, health centres, SA Pathology and SA Ambulance Service. Adoption of the principles is also recommended to private sector health services that receive blood and blood products.

We are also responsible for the promulgation of local policies and guides that support the overarching stewardship policy regarding specific blood products or issues, including:

• CMV Seronegative blood components
• Irraditated blood components
• Emergency use of Group O red blood cells
• SA blood supply contingency plan

We are responsible for developing the annual plans that estimate blood and blood product demand for all health entities in South Australia.  These plans are collated by the National Blood Authority and used to develop the national supply plans that suppliers use to develop their collection, processing and production strategies every year.

We maintain clinical governance arrangements for blood and blood product use via specialist user groups and oversight committees.  These groups help to feed into the stewardship arrangements and also assist us to develop our supply plans.  These groups include:

• the Haemophilia Treatment Network;
• the Immunoglobulin Therapy Advisory Group; and
• the BloodSafe Steering Committee

We undertake a data linkage program to better understand South Australia’s blood use patterns, support demand planning and best practice use of products. For more information on this program, please see our blood utilisation studies page.

Under national arrangements, blood and blood products are jointly funded by the States and Territories (37%) and the Commonwealth (63%) under a cost share arrangement. Products are supplied, free of charge, to patients in both the public and private sectors, with Blood, Organ and Tissue Programs making the payments on behalf of the SA health sector. The total cost of blood and blood products used in South Australia is currently (24/25) around $122m per annum, with SA making payments of around $45m per annum.

A comprehensive blood management program includes policies, guidelines and criteria around all aspects of blood supply and administration. The underlying principles are:

• Patient centred – minimising patient exposure to unnecessary transfusion;
• Community centred – minimising the impost on blood donors; and
• Health sector cost focused – minimising the cost to the public purse.

Through our BloodSafe program, we provide support to clinicians for all aspects of blood transfusion practice to improve patient outcomes and ensure sufficiency of the blood supply.  We manage and fund the BloodSafe program, which operates as a collaborative between SA Health, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, South Australian public and private hospitals and their pathology providers. This program is pivotal in ensuring South Australia effectively implements the Blood Management Standard.

For more information on our work in these areas please see:

• BloodSafe Program
• Clinical transfusion resources
• Consumer transfusion resources
• Blood Utilisation data